UK child protection expert trains Nigerian community leaders on children’s rights
By Ishaya Ibrahim
A UK-based child rights expert and founder of AFRUCA Safeguarding Children, Debbie Ariyo, has listed physical, emotional, sexual, and neglect as systematic forms of abuse against children.
Ariyo, a recipient of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), made the disclosure at a one-day seminar hosted by CEE-HOPE to protect children from harm and abuse.
The workshop, held on Monday at CEE-HOPE’s head office in Lagos, brought together child rights advocates, teachers, school owners, and religious and community leaders.
Ariyo lamented the gaps in the safeguarding of children in Nigeria, citing a recent example of sexual abuse against a five-year-old girl.
She recounted a conversation with a doctor just the previous week: “I was talking to a doctor just last week at an event, and she was talking to me about a child who they were treating in the hospital. And this child had trauma to her private parts, terrible trauma to her private parts. So, obviously, somebody had been sleeping and raping this four- or five-year-old child.”
Ariyo continued: “The child kept talking about her dad. She sleeps with her dad. I only had one question: What happened then? [The doctor] said nothing. The child went back home with the parents. In the UK, that in itself would elicit a major investigation. The child will never return to that home.”
Prevention is Everyone’s Duty
According to Ariyo, it is the duty of everyone to be involved in protecting children from harm, a process that must begin with prevention.
“Prevention means being able to use your initiative to say, ‘What can go wrong with my child?’ We have to be proactive, so that the safety of the children is at the back of your mind,” she said.
She explained prevention further: “What must I do as a parent to make sure I do not put my children at risk? That is prevention.”
Apart from sexual abuse, Ariyo decried the rate of physical and emotional abuse in Nigeria. She noted that many Nigerians who ‘japa‘ (migrate abroad) often encounter legal trouble with foreign authorities because of the physical and emotional abuse of their children.
She elaborated: “In the UK, my charity, AFRUCA Safeguarding Children, works with many African families. A lot of people who are japaing (leaving Nigeria) get themselves into trouble within a very short time of arriving in the UK. Why are they getting into trouble? Because they’re beating their children, because they’re leaving their children home alone, because they’re emotionally abusing their children.”
She stressed that beating children is abuse and not a form of discipline. “I’ve had conversations with many Nigerians. They say, ‘No, no, no, it’s discipline, you can’t discipline your children without actually beating them,’” she said, countering the argument by insisting that beating is not discipline.
Ariyo also warned against cursing children, saying it damages their self-esteem and self-confidence.
Earlier, CEE-HOPE’s executive director, Betty Abah, commended Ariyo for her work fighting child abuse, which earned her the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
