THE ROLES OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND PUBLIC COMPLAINT COMMISSION: A STUDY OF CHILD ABUSE IN NIGERIA

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THE ROLES OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND PUBLIC COMPLAINT COMMISSION: A STUDY OF CHILD ABUSE IN NIGERIA

Table of Content

i. Title

ii. Declaration

iii. Certification

iv. Dedication

v. Acknowledgment

vi. Table of Contents

vii. Abstract

CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

1.2 Statement of problem

1.3 Objectives of the study

1.4 Hypothesis /Research questions

1.5 Research questions

1.6 Scope and Limitation of the study

1.7 Significance of the study

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAME WORK

2.1 Literature Review

2.2 Theoretical Conceptualization Of Child Abuse

2.3 Causes Of Child Abuse

2.4 Types Of Child Abuse

2.5 The Impact Of Family Problem On Child Abuse

2.6 Child Abuse And Overview of Nigeria’s Child Rights Act

2.7 Relationship Between Poverty and Child Abuse

2.8 The Role Of National Human Rights And Public Complaint

Commission In Fighting Child Abuse

2.9 Psychological Effects Of Abuse on Children

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Design

3.2 Population of study

3.3 Sampling

3.4 Research Instrument

3.5 Validity and Reliability

3.6 Research procedure

3.7. Method of Data Analysis

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

4.1 Data Presentation

4.2 Test Of Hypothesis

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Summary

5.2 Conclusion

5.3 Recommendations

5.4 Suggestion for further study

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

QUESTIONNAIRE

ABSTRACT

The study examined the role of Human Rights institutions in the country in addressing the problem of child abuse.

The objective of this study is causes, types and effects of child abuse on the child, the family and the nation. The work is meant to draw closer attention on this increasing scourge and access measures of addressing to preserve the fundamental human rights of the child as entrenched under the Nigeria Child Right Act.

In the study, the researcher defined what child abuse is; the various forms of child abuse, and also identified some of the causes and consequences of child abuse as a reflection of the societal problem and its impact on the life of the child. The study also evaluated the extent of damages it does to the abused child and the Nigerian society. In order to gather relevant data and information on the subject matter, the researcher used the questionnaire as data collection instrument, which was administered on 200 respondents within the FCT which is the limit of the scope of the study. A self constructed questionnaire titled Child Abuse Questionnaire (CAQ) was administered on the students after validation. The instrument has construct validity co-efficient of 0.756 and reliability co-efficient of 0.95. The statistical technique that was used to analyse the data collected was Chi-Square distribution test. The result of the analysis showed that there was a significant relationship between poverty and economic deprivation and child abuse in Nigeria. Also the study revealed that child abuse is still very prevalent in Nigeria and also that religious and cultural influences contribute to child abuse in Nigeria.

The result revealed that the Rights institutions are not doing enough to arrest the problem of child abuse and that the child right act is not working in Nigeria.

CHAPTER ONE

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The Collins concise dictionary defines juvenile as pertaining to the young or immature of youth or childhood. This comprises the child and the adolescent. According to World Health Organization (WHO), a child falls within the age group of 0 – 19 years. Some countries further include any one less than or up to 21 years. The Nigerian labour act defines a child as those who are 16 years of age and below but the International Labour Organization (ILO) has brought it down to individuals below 15years of age.

Child abuse can be defined as ‘an intentional or neglectful physical or emotional injury imposed on a child, including sexual molestation.’ (Garner 1999:10) Child abuse violates the United Nation Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989 and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the African Child.

Child abuse can be seen as situation whereby the fundamental human right of a child is tempered with. That is, the child is not given adequate care and protection as it’s the responsibility of every parent to take good care of their children. This rights are right to education, religion, freedom, movement, shelter etc. The child on most occasion is exposed to unnecessary hardship and odds in life.

Although child abuse occurs in Nigeria, it has received little attention. This is probably due to the emphasis placed on the more prevalent childhood problems of malnutrition and infection. Another possible reason is the general assumption that in every African society the extended family system always provides love, care and protection to all children. Yet there are traditional child rearing practices which adversely affect some children, such as purposeful neglect or abandonment of severely handicapped children, and twins or triplets in some rural areas. With the alteration of society by rapid socioeconomic and political changes, various forms of child abuse have been identified, particularly in the urban areas. These may be considered the outcome of abnormal interactions of the child, parents/ guardians and society. They include abandonment of normal infants by unmarried or very poor mothers in cities, increased child labour and exploitation of children from rural areas in urban elite families, and abuse of children in urban nuclear families by child-minders . Preventive measures include provision of infrastructural facilities and employment opportunities in the rural areas in order to prevent drift of the young population to the cities. This would sustain the supportive role of the extended family system which is rapidly being eroded. There is need for more effective legal protection for the handicapped child, and greater awareness of the existence of child abuse in the community by health and social workers.

Therefore this study is to bring to limelight the incidence of child abuse in Nigeria, the various forms of abuse children pass through, the consequences of child abuse to the child, family and society, and what remedy is the government and its agencies proffering to the problem,

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In the course of this research, the research proposes to identify some of the causes and consequences of child abuse as a reflection of the societal problem and its impact on the life of the child.

The first problem proposes to identify the various forms of child abuse in Nigeria, and evaluate the extent of damages it does to the abused child and the Nigerian society.

Secondly we will examine how the Nigerian government is addressing the situation through its various Right institutions.

Thirdly, the psychological effects it has on the average Nigerian child and how they affect their future.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The work is also to inquire into who are the abusers of the child and recommend the appropriate punishment to curb the act.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following questions give a better insight into the problems this research project attempt to resolve.

1. Is child abuse increasing in Nigeria or decreasing?

2. Is the government really making progress in addressing the menace of child abuse in Nigeria?

3. What are the roles of the Human Rights institution in addressing child abuse in Nigeria?

4. What are the various challenges facing the government is addressing child abuse in Nigeria?

5. What is the relationship between poverty and child abuse in Nigeria?

6. What role is religion and culture playing in contributing to child abuse in Nigeria?

1.5 HYPOTHESIS FORMULATION

Hypothesis are assumptions made by the researcher in order to test the theoretical framework of the research through empirical analysis of data collected to enable him arrive at a reasonable conclusion as whether or not the hypothesis is valid or not.

The hypotheses to be tested in this research work are stated as follows:

1. H0: Child abuse cases are no longer prevalent in the Nigeria society.

H1: Child abuse cases are still prevalent in Nigeria society.

2. H0: There is no significant relationship between poverty and child abuse in Nigeria

H1¬: There is a significant relationship between poverty and child abuse in Nigeria

3. H0: Religious and cultural influences do not contribute to child abuse in Nigeria

H1: Religious and cultural influences do contribute to child abuse in Nigeria

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This research work was carried out among Nigerian adults within the FCT and it lends itself to assessing the causes, types and effect of child abuse in Nigeria.

The study covered 200 adults in FCT and questionnaires were distributed to the following stakeholders or respondents:

1. Civil servants

2. The Nigeria Police Force

3. Nigeria Immigration service

4. Civil Defence Corps

5. Professionals (Doctors, Lawyers etc)

This research also intends to look at the roles of Human Right institutions in Nigeria in addressing the menace. It also intends to proffer a definite solution to the menace, but due to the time and space given within when to submit this project work, coupled with other academic work, the researcher has to restrict himself to only few individuals within the FCT.

1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Every day, there are children living hungry, neglected, sexually exploited and fearful. An abusive environment is certainly no way for a child to grow up. Children have the right to safe and maturing environment. In our society, one sees children engaged in petty-trading and street begging; while some hawk for their parents and guardians when they should be laying a solid foundation for their future. One also sees cases of child prostitution to get money. Parents leave their children at home uncatered for and run after money making. The average school teacher today has on his hands a crisis resulting from parent’s abdication of their responsibilities and many teachers believe this has adversely affected character and output of the child (Ale, A., (2007). There are cases of deprivation of adequate nutrition. There is also exploitation of children as aids by handicapped adults during street begging. In the era of high rates of parental poverty, unemployment, inflation and social exclusion, parental care of several children in Nigeria has fallen below expectation; not necessarily because their parents are illiterate, ignorant, abusive or neglectful but largely because-of inequality of access to child care resources. When parents are unable to adequately meet the welfare of their children, one expects that family and childcare institution should intervene. Unfortunately, the childcare institutions in the country are incapacitated by poverty or lack of fund.

According to Adeniran K,( 2003), abused children grow up as callous, insensitive adults with varied repercussions for families and society. They become cognitively deficient and create various cadres of street children.

This project work represents a timely contribution to knowledge and developments in combating child abuse and neglect in Nigeria particularly the girl-child, who are the major victims of child abuse. It focuses on causes, types, effects and suggests remedy. It also looks into the role of security agencies, policy makers, stakeholders, Rights institutions and the judiciary in tackling the rising cases of Child abuse. This project work also provides an insight into which further research work on this topic could be successfully carried out by both students of Humanities and Social Sciences.

To the Nigerian public and security agencies, this work provides an assessment handbook on the problem: Child abuse in Nigeria- and its negative effect on social and economy life of the victim and the country.

To this end some crucial hypothesis were raised to find solution to the menace.

1.8 LIMITATIONS OF STUDY

It must be understood that many constraints were encountered in the course of this project work. One of such limitation was inadequate access to documents. Information was largely gathered through certain documents, questionnaire, interviews and newspapers in the national library.

Also, one would not be right to rely wholly on the validity of the interview conducted since some members of the public tend to respond due to the level of their knowledge.

Economic hardship is a principal constraint of this project. Cost of research materials has increased astronomically with higher transportation cost and other miscellaneous expenses like photocopying etc. became a serious problem.

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