THE EFFECT OF CHILD ABUSE ON NATIONAL SECURITY: A CASE STUDY OF ALIMOSHO LGA, LAGOS STATE

4 year old children hawking on the streets of Nigeria.

    INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

1.1          INTRODUCTION

Currently in Nigeria, children are being abused every single day intentionally and unintentionally.  According to the 2006 recent census, Nigeria population is over 140 million with the with such a size, it is un-imaginable how many children are been abused.

For years, Psychiatrists, have known that children who are abused or neglected run a high risk of developing mental problems later in life. From anxiety, depression to substance abuse and suicide.

The connection is not surprising, but it raises a crucial scientific question: Does the abuse cause biological changes that may increase the risk for these problems?

Over the past decade or so, researchers at McGill University in Montreal, led by Michael Meaney, have shown that affectionate mothering alters the expression of genes in animals, allowing them to dampen their Physiological response to stress.

Now, for the first time, they have direct evidence that the same system is at work in humans. In a study of people who committed suicide published in 2009 in the journal ‘Nature Neuroscience,’ researchers in Montreal reported that people who were abused or neglected as children showed genetic alteration that likely made them more biologically sensitive to stress.

The findings help clarify the biology behind the wounds of a difficult childhood and hint at what constitutes resilience in those able to shake off the wounds.

The importance of Child Rights and development has been underscored by many parents, the government and the international community. This can be attested to by the clarion calls to create awareness on the needs for Child Rights issues to be recognized as a self standing set of constitution in the mainstreaming process, rather than be a substitute under wider efforts to mainstream overall human rights.

Every child has the right to a good start in life which encompasses adequate nutrition, health care, hygienic environment, participation and protection. The protection rights give a child a right to equality, privacy, education, development and protection against sexual abuse and exploitation.

On the issue of participation, a child has the right to share in the issue of making decisions which affects his life and the life of the community which he or she is part of. Same way, a child has the right to develop through freedom of thought, conscience and religion, the right to play and arise under the administration of juvenile justice.

In this regard, the Child Right Act was promulgated in 2003 among other things incorporates all the rights and responsibilities of a child and specifies the duties and obligations of government, parents, organization and other authorities to the child.

For most parents, a greater part of their waking hours is devoted to work. Some work to live while others live to work. As a parent, which situation will make you more nervous—knowing that your children run a high risk of developing mental problem due to neglect or that people die at or because of their work? (Agunbiade, 2007)

As a matter of fact, both activities involve a measure of danger and both require a maximum level of responsibility. 

 1.1          BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

According to World health organisation, child abuse is all form of “physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, negligent treatment, commercial or other exploitation resulting in actual or potential harm to the child heath, survival or development or dignity in the context of a relationship or responsibility, trust or power” (WHO, 1999).

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