The magnitude and severity of the OVC crisis in Nigeria . Back to Destiny Resource Center (DRC)

The magnitude and severity of the OVC crisis in Nigeria is largely undetermined. It is evident that Nigeria is facing an OVC crisis with more than 7 million orphans due to AIDS and other causes, apart from millions of vulnerable children from several causes. There is a deepening and widening exclusion and invisibility of children in Nigeria. The information available paints a depressing picture of neglect, exploitation and abuse facing a large percentage of children today. It is estimated that 39% of children aged between 5 – 14 years are engaged in child labour; 43% of women aged 20 – 24 were married or in union before they were 18 years old between 1986 and 2004 (SWC, UNICEF 2006). A large proportion (40%) of street children may have been trafficked (ILO-IPEC 2001), estimated 40% do not attend primary school (NPC/ORC 2004) and the rights of most children in Nigeria are being denied.

HIV and AIDS became a national challenge over the past two decades when the first case was identified in a 13 year old street hawker. Since then, about one-quarter of the orphans populations in Nigeria are due to HIV and AIDS. The situation of children is further compounded by the worsening vulnerability of children through high maternal mortality, poverty, diseases, armed conflicts, socio-political and ecological problems, and communal clashes leading to family dislocation and instability in family income.
Violence towards women and children in Nigeria are of frightening proportions as it remains relatively unchallenged by government, civil society and families. Sexual abuse, of the increasing number of very young girls now working on the streets, has been well documented demonstrating clear linkages to exposure to HIV and AIDS. On the other hand the incidence of sexual abuse occurring within households remains a taboo subject with only anecdotal evidence and frequency of reporting in daily newspapers. Whilst children have always worked in Nigeria, increasing and deepening poverty and HIV and AIDS are driving millions of children into types of labour that are exploitative and hazardous. Increasingly, rural to urban migration has led to a weakened family safety net and reduced communal sense of responsibility for children.
The definition of OVC varies from society to society; therefore definitions are likely to be community specific. In times of OVC assessment for eligibility, children who require care and support will often be identified through household surveys in communities, and/or via self or community based- referral, referral from mobile HCT services, ART sites, PMTCT sites, support groups of PLWHAs, schools, FBOs, orphanages/children’s homes, the street ( street children), or prisons ( for children born to convicted mothers). All such children need to be assessed based on the community definitions of vulnerability; it will help in designing good intervention for children and their households.
It is widely recognized that children have increased resilience to be able to bear shock and hardship when they are surrounded by people who love, care and protect them. The sense of belonging children achieve through such relationships and the hope for a positive future that is nurtured enables them to cope with suffering. Psychosocial wellbeing refers to the love and affection caregivers provide on a daily basis. Psychosocial support and programmes are only needed for a very small number of children for whom the family care is not being provided or is not suffering to help them cope with the stress or trauma. Children have feelings about their parents becoming ill and eventually dying. This feeling of sadness and in most case fear are carried into adulthood by some of them unless such children are supported to express them and taught how to deal with them positively.
Programmes need to recognize the importance of supporting caregivers and relatives to provide a stable and protective environment which will in turn increase children’s capacity to cope with stressful situations and shocks. Girls and boys, men and women should be supported to come together to identify the risks of abuse and exploitation facing children in their communities and develop strategies to reduce these harms. The capacity of communities, particularly youths and children, to monitor the protection needs of children and families should be developed.
Poverty, attitude of parents and caregivers to the value of education; discrimination on the basis of sex, ethnicity, disability, and family economic status are all factors leading to lack of access to basic education in Nigeria. It is good to support communities and schools to manage holistic scholarship scheme for orphans and vulnerable children to take care of their education needs from pre-primary through vocational education. Empower parents/caregivers economically through IGA and micro-credit to be able to support orphans and vulnerable children to access basis education.
Poverty and vulnerability among households is some of the most critical upshots of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. As the economically active people in the household come down with the infection or die eventually, families struggle to cope not just emotionally, but also economically. Facilitating the formation of OVC households corporative groups for the purpose of undertaking economic activities and accessing micro-finance will help them cope with challenges ahead while caring for the OVC.
Issues affecting children in general, aside from education, are not currently prioritized by government or donors. Therefore it is not surprising that awareness of issues affecting OVC is low. These can be address if the capacity of police, social welfare and health professionals’ to be able to respond sensively and in the best interest of the child to incidence of abuse. There is a need to work with children to clearly articulate the issues affecting their rights to protection, care and support to policy and decision makers at the community level.
Improvement in the conditions of all vulnerable groups, a large segment made up of caregivers, have significant implications on the welfare and rights of orphans and vulnerable children. When these goals, are met, orphans and vulnerable children will come into the enjoyment of their rights to survival, protection, care and support.
Local government authorities have the responsibility to incorporate concerns relevant to the safety, well-being and the fulfillment of the rights of OVC in LGA work plans and budgets. There is the need to build the capacity of the welfare departments of LGAs, LACAs, CBOs,FBOs and NGOs at the LGA to ensure proper coordination, data on OVC and their circumstances are collected, collated and disseminated for improve targeting and service delivery.
Without taking determined steps to address the specific needs of children, there will be no chance of meeting the MDGs and SEEDS. Each of the MDGs is connected to the well-being of children. Failure to achieve these goals would have devastating consequences for the children of this generation and the adults they will become if they survive their childhood.