PROHIBIT CHILDREN FROM HAWKING

Based on figures from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) website, over 10.5 million children are out of school in Nigeria, the highest rate globally.

Nonetheless, 47.7 percent are said to be girls aged from 5-14 years and have never set foot in schools, but engaged in hawking. Though the country is experiencing deficit in educational infrastructure, parents, particularly in the northern region, prefer hawking for their children than being in school. The aforesaid behaviors of some parents have exposed children to jeopardy.

Undoubtedly, street hawking has huge implications for children’s physical and emotional well-being, particularly girls. It, has, however, exposed them to sexual abuse, physical exhaustion, accidents, deaths, malnourishment, drug and substance abuse, and prostitution. Many have been victims of rape, kidnapping, ritual killing, and trafficking, among other abuses.

On this note, and in commemoration of World Women’s Day, I want to implore as well as draw the attention of the federal government to implement the act prohibiting children from hawking to minimise violence against women in Nigeria.

Ukasha Rabiu Magama, Toro, Bauchi State