By Sylvia Akpan
Basic Rights Counsel Initiative (BRCI), a not-for-profit organization based in Calabar has called for a secured future for children as the world marks the 2023 International Day for Street Children.
The International Day for Street Children is commemorated on April 12th every year to acknowledge the strength and resilience of street children around the globe.
The day is aimed at providing a voice for vulnerable children in a street situation, preventing the constant disregard of their rights as well as providing an opportunity for human rights organizations to spread awareness about the plight of street children all over the world.
With this year’s theme: Keeping Street-Connected Children Safe, BRCI said all and sundry must put hands on desks to prevent and remove children from the streets.
The celebration kicked off with a one thousand (1,000) person march to some locations in the city of Calabar, to create awareness on the plight of street children in Nigeria.
The children were drawn from various locations in the Calabar metropolis – Bogobiri, Marian, and Lemna axis marched from the Zoo Garden to the University of Calabar main gate, displaying placards with inscriptions such as: “give the street children a fair hearing”, “protect the rights of street children no matter who they are”, “children should be in schools not on the streets”, “street children deserve healthy well-being”, “we also have rights” among others.
Speaking in an interview with CrossRiverWatch, the Program Coordinator of BRCI, Mrs. Ese Ibor, decried the huge number of children roaming the streets as destitute due to parental neglect.
In her words: “We organize this rally to create awareness on the plight of the street children because most people have this ‘I don’t care attitude about street children and they call them skolombo, thieves, and prostitutes.
“We want to change this narrative. Every child must be our concern because the child we fail to help today will come back to hunt your children tomorrow so that is why we are out on the street trying to create this awareness.
“We don’t just leave them, we follow up with them, those that want to stay in homes, we ensure that they get the support they need.”
Mrs. Ibor disclosed that over the years the NGO has marked the day, and successes have been recorded as many children have been successfully taken out from the street and reunited with their loved ones.
She said there is a wake-up call for the government and individuals to do more for the welfare of street children.
Speaking on behalf of the children, 20-year-old Anthony Kenneth while lauding the gesture by BRCI and partners, said he found himself roaming the streets after the demise of his parents without no one to care for him.
He said while he excavates cans and metals to survive, he will be glad to embrace a skill if the opportunity presents itself, adding that: “Some of our boys when they go and steal, they will kill and set them ablaze; it is not a good thing.”
The funder of this year’s exercise is Safe Child Africa, UK. Other partners are Coalition of Youth Serving NGOs, We The People, Onyx Foundation, Street Priest, and CrossRiverWatch among others.
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