Modern Slavery : A Stitch in Time

By

Chinedum Iregbu

saintmaxzy@yahoo.com

 

Gone are the days when slavery used to be the order of the day, when slave’s journey to the "New world", the "Great Triangle" and the "Middle East" was long and full of the most horrible of human sufferings. Slaves marched long distance from their place of capture in the hinterland to the coast; they traveled in long caravans under the auspices of armed slave drivers and merchants. Each slave was shackled or tied by the waist to the one next in line, they were tongue-tied and men slaves hands w ere tied behind their backs to minimize the dangers of their revolt against the slave merchants (masters). Slaves were forced to walk when tired or foot - sore and if a slave refused to move, he or she is killed by the slave merchants or left to the mercy of the wild beasts that infested the forests.

 

But now, we no longer witness slave trade but rather what should be called modern slavery in the hands of lack of proper education (educating the children) in the Nigerian Society at large and most especially the Northern states of Nigeria where neglect and abuse of children is like a tradition. In the Nigerian society presently, the future generation are seen mostly in the streets hawking petty goods like pure water, groundnut, oranges, etc instead of studying in the school. This type of slavery (lack of proper upbringing) hinders economic development of the country and threatens the peaceful co-existence of our great nation; it also creates a breeding ground for future criminals and all sorts of violent acts and inhuman behaviors. As a result of that, our children who grew up to be hated and abandoned children find refuge in the streets, thereby embracing armed robbery, gang raping of innocent children and sex hawking, this happens mostly in the Western part of the country where children are treated badly, given an ultimatum to sale a given quantity of goods, which if the child failed to finish the sale of a given quantity of goods within a given time will be dealt seriously with, kept hungry and tortured. This type of slavery (lack of proper upbringing) makes the Nigerian society to be unstable in terms of peaceful co-existence, today Hausa Vs Igbo, Christian Vs Muslim, Hausa Vs Yoruba, Ogoni youth violence, Ijaw youth, Niger/Deltas among others, all these ethnic/religious clashes are caused by this modern slavery, which also led to the September 2001 Kano riot in connectionn with the terrorist attack on American and bombing of pentagon which was spearheaded by Usama Bin-Laden, the Nigerian Muslim youths took up arms against their brothers, embracing fanatism and forgetting the fact that, though Nigeria is a multi-tribal state where every one has freedom of worship, they are still one nation with one motive (to move forward) though they (Muslim youths) have rally in mind which later resulted to riot due to lack of proper understanding which is caused by lack of education. In essence, this wicked enemy of man (slavery) has created a breeding ground for enmity between the different tribes of the country and is threatening to tear the nation apart.

 

In the Western states of the country modern slavery is caused as a result of wickedness, carelessness, neglect and abuse of human rights (child abuse). Children in this part of the country are mostly seen in the streets h awking, some of the grown up girls embrace prostitution to make a living while the grown up boys turn to armed robbers, rapist and a treat to the nation.

In the Northern states of the country modern slavery is caused by parents who in one way or the other cannot enroll their children to formal education and are unable to carter for their children’s need, leaving them to roam around the streets in search of food in the form of beggars (Almajiri). These children beggars are mainly boys while the girls are made to enjoy the benefits of childhood, parental care and love, though, this is an old tradition, it should be tackled.

 

These children are been deprived of the best things of life, and even education which is the best legacy, while their parents forget that education is the best legacy their children can inherit, they think education is costly, I suggest they try ignorance and see for their selves which is costlier. In the west, some of the stone-hearted parents/guardians push their children out to get money for them by all means. While in the north they are left to roam the streets begging for arms. These children are mal-nourished and their un-kept bodies elicits some emotions and speaks much volume, making one to understand that, though it is only the living that savors the benefit of human rights, but they (Almajiri children) are been deprived of this God’s given gift of human rights.

 

These children presents a picture of highly traumatized set of kids as they looked wild and grossly underfed. They lived in a very inhuman condition and are left in the hands of faith, they are orphans whose parents are still alive, their parents forgot that, posterity will never forgive any parents or guardian s who fail to give or provide proper education for their children and wards. There is a popular saying that goes thus, "Any irresponsible man can have children but it takes a real man to be a father" these children are mostly children of incapable parents as a result of wickedness, adolescent marriage in the north, which never last for more that two issues (child birth) among others. In most cases these children beggars, hawkers etc are transported from neighboring countries like Niger Republic to the northern states, Benin Republic to the southern states and Cameroon to the eastern states of the country with one excuse or the other, some came to learn trade, some education and some, in the name of Arabic/Quaranic studies and they end up roaming the streets, in most cases they never go back to their motherland, they become citizens of Nigeria by virtue of circumstances.

 

The characteristics o f these children are the same as that of the slaves of old as they are maltreated if they failed to sale a given quantity of goods given to them by their masters/madam, this happens most especially in the western part of the country as I said earlier, where most women/madams are wicked, while in the north these children are left to roam the streets, they looked so much like the slaves of old as they are grossly un-kept, malnourished and are never cared for. Innocent children who have no help, what faith? Looking at those children, one will conclude that child abuse has come to stay as no one cares for what the future of these children will look like.

 

The difference between the slaves of old and these set of modern slaves is that the old slaves are tongue-tied, shackled and are tortured without freedom of movement, but these new slaves are never tongue- tied nor shackled but rather, they are lef t to roam around the streets selling petty goods and begging for arms in the north with plates on their hands and all sorts of rubbish they pick as they march along.

 

In their quest in begging for arms, they walk around, from street to street singing songs of all sorts, which is meant for arms begging, each set of these children slaves sings a different song with a different rhythm and rhyme scheme, and as they move along, any thing realized is been shared equally amongst them. These set of children are used by the elites to perform all sorts of evil acts, they are equipped with modern weapons and are used as a threat to the nation in the name of errand boy’s in cults, (west) Dandaba’s (wicked vagabonds) in the north, they kill and maim regardless of life’s worth because to them, life is regardless and valueless. The elites uses them to fight and threaten their opposition for example during campaigns and voting. They (slaves) also spearhead riots and act as spies, gathering information for their masters, stealing of ballot boxes, forcing people to vote for their party and making an election that is supposed to be free and fair not to be. In the event of riot, they fight against non-indigenes and loot their prey’s shop and houses. Hence they are not trained, there is no iota of doubt, they lack proper upbringing and home training as about 90% of them smokes cigarette, Indian hemp, Erin-more etc without knowing the wicked side effect of what they are consuming.

 

In most cases these slaves (vagabonds) never think of what they will do for the nation but what the nation will do for them, they are never satisfied with the performance of government. In the western state of the country these children who grew up in the streets are stone hearted and never satisfied with whatever the governmentt have to offer, while in the north they as fanatics.

If nothing is done about those form of slavery, the country, I mean Nigeria will witness violent acts in a large array in the near future as they are increasing day-in-day-out and poses a great threat to the nation’s greatness and development, before this form of slavery should be eschewed, it must start from the grassroots (children who hawk and beg along the street should be taken care of.) as the saying goes "Charity begins at home" the government should look into the affairs of this children.

 

I hereby appeal to, first all the elites and political stalwarts in the nation to stop equipping these children with arms, but instead they should employ them into legal duties/job.  They should also create an avenue for the welfare of these children. I appeal to all the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO’s) to embrace the eradication of poverty which flames up violent as a saying goes  "A hungry man is an angry man" and to the Nigerian government to come to the aid of these children whom if allowed to be multiplying at this alarming pace will grow to become terrorists and armed robbers in the near future.

 

These children should be taken proper care of, showed love in order to eschew the violent in them and from the nation at larges because "He who has never been loved does not know the value of love".

 

As I write now, they are out there in the streets, roaming about and begging for arms, hawking goods, stealing of carelessly kept items, raping innocent small girls and damaging of valuable items, which they never know their value. They increase in number on daily basis and can be spotted in all nooks and crannies of the country, they have become the main characteristics of the nations streets as a glance or walk in the streets without spotting them is like a camel passing through an eye of a needle (very impossible), the streets are their home.

 

I still appeal to the government and all well to do people of the federal republic of Nigeria to come to the aid of this wrong development. The government should create an avenue for the well being of these children who are as aggressive as a hungry lion, with no one to care for them, what faith will the country have if its future generation is left to roam the streets? A stitch in time saves nine.

 

Written by: Chinedum Saint Iregbu

Saintmaxzy@yahoo.com