Exploring The State Of Development Interventions On the Boy Child In Nigeria; A Case Study Of Asaba, Delta State
9/11/20
9/11/2022
Exploring The State Of Development Interventions On the Boy Child In Nigeria; A Case Study Of Asaba, Delta State
Mega Impact Foundation
Email: Info@megaimpactfoundation.org
Research Purpose
The purpose of this study was to identify the negative resultant effect of a Gender-Focused society and its effects on the boy child who are continuously neglected as it concerns their personal and social development; according to the United Nations Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child. The girl-child is getting about 90% of attention by Governments, International Organizations, NGOs and other child developmental agencies while little or no emphasis is placed on the challenges faced by the boy child.
The resultant effects were examined through a questionnaire that was used to sample the mindset of boys on what their challenges are and how they solve them. Data was gathered through questionnaires developed by the researcher and they were distributed amongst 400 boys selected from various secondary schools during our Boy Power Symposium in commemoration of the International Day of the Boy Child 2021 in Delta State. Responses to open-ended questions were qualitatively analyzed. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to analyze the data. Descriptive
Statistics were used to analyze the background information of the participants.
The results indicated that most boys learnt about puberty from either their older male sibling or strangers, the lack of detailed reproductive health education in their schools was one major factor leading to this. It was also gathered that these children find it hard to communicate their feelings towards their parents or at school because of the discrimination in how such matters were handled compared to when it is by a girl.
In conclusion, the results of this study can contribute a great deal to encourage all relevant stakeholders in child development in Delta State and Nigeria at large to understand the benefits of paying equal attention to the boy child in hope of creating gender-balanced developmental plans and programmes for children.
Abstract:
Emphasis on educating the girl child around the world has over time garnered a lot of attention and has started to bear positive fruits, leaving the boy child in an awful state of abandonment and neglect. World over, the plight of the boy child has not been adequately and effectively given enough attention. Several research and data analysis reveals that the most concentration by the Government and several NGO’s and CSO’s are on the girl-child whilst putting the boy-child at a great risk of not having equal social and psychological development as compared to the girls. In Nigeria, according to a Voice of Africa News report (Dec 2018) a survey by UNICEF showed that the population of out of school children has risen from 10.5 million to 13.2 million, the highest in the world. This is actually in contradiction to the promotion of gender equality which is a Millennium Development Goal reaffirmed in the 2005 World Summit. The intention of this project paper is to examine and analyze the impact of the neglect of the boy-child in Nigeria with special focus on Delta State. It explores and identifies developmental problems faced by the boy child and proposes actions for the mitigation of the situation.
In conclusion, the results of this study can contribute to quality boys’ development by displaying the current status of the resultant effects of the neglect of the boy child in Oshimili South LGA, Delta State and develop strategies to better the position of boys.
Key words: Boy-child, Challenges, Gender Based Concentration, Development
Introduction
The resultant negative effect of the negligence of paying equal attention to boys as the society does with the girls cannot be over-emphasized and unless properly attended to, the society will have to bear its gains. The future that we are all trying to protect will be run by these children and it’s our collective efforts as a society and government to prepare them mentally, psychologically and physically so as to grow into responsible adults. All of these can be achieved through paying more attention to the plight of the boy child across all spheres of their development.
Protection of the rights of the boy-child is influenced by a range of factors which include rights education, inadequate sensitization of parents and children, moral impetus and belief systems. Lack of access to Rights Education has made it almost impossible for the boy-child to feel protected. The African society believes that the boy child can almost survive on their own therefore do not pay equal attention to them as the girls. Most rights programmes and interventions even by international rights organizations are mostly targeted towards the girls. The lack of access to quality information about the rights of the boy-child has led them to quietly learn how to absorb the heat that the society places on them thereby resulting into their involvement in several negative vices that is currently affecting the country, theses vices include, internet fraud, armed robbery cultism ,drug abuse etc.
Additionally, there are little or no professional counselors trained on handling the issues affecting the boy-child so they are left at the mercy of women who sometimes through gender related constraints might be inclined to attend to such issues from a woman’s perspective. In Africa’s men are believed to be the provider for the family, so their male children hardly find them around to share their concerns thereby leading them to keeping quiet about it or sharing with male older siblings who might not have enough information to help out.
One of the major resultant effects of neglecting the boy child is the rate of boys dropping out of school caused by parents sending forth their male children to go work to support the family due to poverty or peer-pressure.
The table below shows the responses of 400 boys’ ages 13-17 years selected from 10 different secondary schools in Asaba Delta State, 400 questionnaires were distributed to find out certain personal issues and we received 310 feedbacks. This findings will enable the Government, school, parents and other Stakeholders in children development to understand the underlying facts for a boy child’s behavior and also understand what the boy child thinks about violence. Such information can help the school to address the issues by learning their behavioral patterns. The data can allow parents and schools to take appropriate measures to prepare boys for the real world to come, keep them happy, and build stronger relationships.
Understanding who a boy-child is
The African Charter on the Rights of the child defines a child as anyone below the age of 18, though, various Statutes, Acts and Policies defines children different, literarily, the boy child is defined as a male offspring that is below the age of 18 years and for us to find a balance amongst both genders, we must put into consideration Gender Equality which is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender (Wikipedia).
Background for Project Paper.
According to Mr. Chris Anyabuine Delta State Director, National Orientation Agency, It is instructive to mention that the female gender has for long suffered neglect in so many areas of human development across the world, in Africa for example women have always been voiceless and most time relegated to just been a second fiddle to the men with just the major responsibility of taking care of the home and children, these women have been powerless in major strata of life, especially in decision making. Since the agitation for the liberation of the female gender started, most international organizations, government agencies and stakeholders have shifted their attention to helping women realize their dream but the paradigm shift is now beginning to tell on the male folks who are now majorly at the mercy of their own decisions.
A lot of responsibilities are placed on children especially the boy child in Delta State, and are seen as a support mechanism for the family, they are mostly exploited for child labour. The boy child, according to Chris, is perceived as a strong and super human being who can inevitably take care of himself thereby leading to parents and the society at large not putting any extra efforts in their well-being. Empirical studies contend that more emphasis should be placed on girl-child education in many countries (EFA, 2000). This has led to back grounding of boy-child thus detrimental.
The boy child is often told during their formative years about been strong and they are not allowed to share their innermost feelings because the society has placed on them a huge role and responsibility with the concept of them becoming the head of the family, therefore they are expected to take decisions for themselves which often misleads them. They tend to find succor in friends who in turn introduce them to drugs and all other vices all in the name of finding the inner strength and motivation to become a man even at an early age.
Several NGOs and international organizations’ children funding and intervention programmes have always been geared towards the girl child in Delta State, the State Government has in place the Office of the Girl child which focuses on capacity development of girls. Schools regularly organize programmes that focus on issues affecting the girl child leaving out the boys and this has caused a major gap between the knowledge acquired for self-development between the boys and the girls, for instance issues concerning reproductive health has always been about the girls leaving the boys to learn on their own.
One of our research participants Mr. Fred Ugheni, Director, Child Development of the Delta State Ministry of Women Affairs, Community and Social Development, mentioned that the need to educate the public on the roles and responsibilities of different Government Ministries is paramount, he said for example the Ministry of Women Affairs Community and Social Development is responsible for taking care of any child below the 18 years old with no bias for gender or status contrary to the belief that its only for women and the girl-child. He mentioned that the parents have the greatest responsibility of making sure that they give equal opportunity to all their children when it comes to education but argues that it is a natural phenomenon that girl child would get more emotional and physical attention than the male child as they are perceived as a weaker vessel but maintains that both sexes should be given love and protection.
Mr. Fred recommended that CSO’s, NGO’s and other relevant agencies working towards child-development should continually come up with engaging, experiential and informative sensitization and enlightenment campaigns in cities and rural communities about the need for people to understand the essence of gender mainstreaming in all they do and urged government at all levels to make provision for the implementation of the child rights acts in Nigeria
Societal Expectations from the Deltan Boy-Child.
In the rural part of the Delta State especially where farming is a major source of livelihood, educating the boy child is sacrificed for farming and livestock herding and other forms of labor, they grow up seeing their fathers wake-up to go to the farms and take care of their livestock, the society teaches boys from an early age to be brave and at all times responsible for taking care of the family. Society believes that boys are stronger physically and mentally than the girl child forgetting that they are human first before being a boy or a girl and that they did not choose their gender. Male children are taught to dominate in all aspects of life, various institutions which include the religious organizations, schools and the homes teach the boy child of their confounding power and domination and do not give them reasons to feel they have problems leaving them to suffer in silence. Most male children often look well in their outward appearance but deep inside there is a discord.
General Overview of Gender-based Concentration amongst stakeholders.
In correlation to the African Charter on Child Rights, Nigeria also has in place policies geared towards protection of the Child Rights Act, social equality and non-discrimination between genders. Putting into consideration efforts that have been made to ensure issues of gender disparities are addressed, the girl-child has always enjoyed more attention than the boy child in Delta State thus reversing the gains so made.
The Federal Government in collaboration with state governments and international development partners -DFID/UNICEF is accelerating various efforts and interventions to close the gender gap and ensure the basic rights of development, survival, participation and protection of the girl child in Nigeria and to meet the MDGs 2 & 3, and the current sustainable development goals targets. Some of these efforts include:
The Delta State Government and other states in Nigeria have set-up agencies that solely caters for the girl-child, the States’ government Office of the girl child is only responsible for issues as it affect girls and young women while the Ministry of Women Affairs focuses on issues that affect the girl-child and women across the state. There is little or no effort at creating a platform that will tackle issues that affect the boy-child.
We live in a society where the boy child is perceived to be a strong individual who can take care of himself. Society needs to be re-oriented concerning the disadvantage of gender disparity when it comes to training children generally. The society believes that the boy child does not stand any major risk unlike the girl child who might get pregnant or raped leaving the boys exposed to some social vices which include drug abuse, cultism, armed robbery and fraud which in turn takes a negative resultant effect on the society itself.
In accordance to the number one on the list of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, sometimes known as the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child and published by the International Save the Children Union in Geneva on 23 February 1923, the child must be given the means requisite for its normal development, both materially and spiritually. It also emphasizes the reduction of adult illiteracy rates to one half of the 1990s levels by 2000, with an emphasis on female literacy.
Finding of the study
Socio-Cultural Factors
One of the areas our questionnaire was directed at was to identify the socio-cultural factors that influences the development of the boy child and transition into adulthood, the study revealed that 76% of children agreed that non-availability of adult male role models at home is a strong factor that influences their decision making. About 55% of respondents admitted they had used one form of drugs before while 65% agreed to have indulged in one form of internet fraud or the other. Furthermore 82% of respondents indicated that they knew someone who is into internet fraud while 92% knew someone who was using one form of drugs, this indicates the influence of both peer and societal pressure to conform to a certain lifestyle.
According to Mrs Helen Dike, who is an astute education administrator and child-development expert, the myth of not having a male child in the family is still a major form of challenge in many Nigerian homes especially in the north where she lived for several years, the fear that having only female children would hamper the continuation of the family name in the coming generations, as once female children get married, they begin to answer their husband’s name. She mentioned that external family influence is one of the key tools that’s influences men to start nursing the idea or just marry a new wife entirely just to get a male child or basically just take up fights against the wife which in turn leads to broken homes, she emphasized on the fact that parents and new couple should start seeing both the male and female children as equal stating that giving extra attention to one will definitely be detrimental to the mental and psychological growth of the other.
She suggested that our religious organizations also have a major role to play in re-engineering the mindset of the worshipers to understand that no gender should be given priority especially when it comes to raising children, she laid emphasis on the fact that giving children quality education, morals and value orientation will help in reducing or totally eradicate most of the social vices like cultism, drug abuse etc majorly perpetrated by these adolescents.
Economic and Parental Factors
The questionnaire was also designed to gather information on economic factors as it affects the development of the boy child, unarguably, poverty was identified as the number one mitigating factor. Due to the increasing rate of poverty in many homes especially in the rural areas of Delta State, the boy child is mostly exploited for child labour by their parents so as to be able to provide basic life amenities for the entire family. The boy child is made to do menial jobs or sent away to urban areas to learn a trade at the expense of getting an education. It was clearly noted that the inheritance of farmlands or other businesses easily makes the boy child feel contended thereby discouraging them from going to school. One other issue is the use of young boys as instrument of political thuggery during elections by politicians as these young boys find that as a quick source of income generation.
Mrs Edna Obanyendo, CEO, Samlizzy Akpeyere Foundation related in our interview with her that one of the major cause of the decadence in morals and value placement amongst children in Nigeria is the failure of parents who have allowed civilization make them loose their sense of responsibility when it comes to the sacred home training and development of the child, it was noted that according to history, women had been neglected for too long causing the mass intellectual revolution leading to women issues now taking center-stage across the world but the of neglect of the boy child in our societies is now having a ripple effect on the fight against gender imbalance which is seemingly looking lopsided.
One key factor she also mentioned is that parents have an important role to play if we intend to raise properly trained children, she advised parents to see children as the same without any bias, and they should provide equal opportunities for the children it term of education, personal development and social relationships whilst also noting that parents should stop the habit of crippling the activities of schools when it comes to training and educating their wards. She recommended that parents should outside all the “Wokeness” wake up to their responsibility of differentiating the idea of discipline and child abuse and not making one disturb the other.
School Related Factors
The study reveals that most interventions that takes place in schools are always targeted towards the girls, lack of effective guidance and counseling departments in schools especially in the rural areas was also identified as a major source of concern, as most students especially the boy child are at the mercy of talking to their friends to find solutions to their issues. The girl child receives a lesser punishment compared to the punishment that the boy child gets for the same offence. It is quite obvious that the insensitive school environment affects the development of the boy child.
Our resource person, Rev. Father Offor, Principal, St Patrick’s College Asaba, an all-boys boarding institution during our research interview mentioned that the issues of not having a boy child in a family is still relatively in existence but due to civilization and enlightenment, it has stopped being relevant in the sense that its’ become a truism that what a boy child can become, a girl child can do better. He emphasized that our society naturally puts pressure on the boy child and recommended that we need to decolonize further the mentality mostly peculiar to African parents about the idea based on assumption that the boy child or man must necessarily be the bread winner of the family citing instances of where males when dating are made to feel obliged by the societal ideology to take care of the lady, a mentality which he eventually grows up with.
The principal also explained that there had been efforts by school management also through the Parents, Teachers Associations to eradicate the idea of scolding the boy child by comparing them to a girl child who is seemingly doing better than him which negatively imprints on the girls mind that she is actually not meant to be ahead of the boy child whilst also putting unnecessary pressure on the boy. He explained that for parents despite the fact of culture assimilation, should endeavor to learn new ways of training their wards, their primary objectives should be to train them to keep healthy relationships and see themselves as equal, he specifically talked about how parents from the rural areas should be enlightened on this issue as it is still quite functional amongst them. He said the role of education is key in the fight for a gender-balanced and just society stating that if we give proper all-round education to our children, they will grow into responsible adults who are informed of their rights, limits and expectations.
He highlighted that one of the major issues causing the neglect of the boy child over the years is the resultant effect of over hundreds of years of neglect and relegation of women and girls to the background in the political and social development plans of countries and even homes across the world but reiterated that the boy child that we fail to raise and educate properly will end up marrying the girl children we have spent so much time and resources to train. According to him, due to the regular orientation programmes organized for girls in their schools by different NGO’S and Government agencies and most times supported by corporate brands., girls are now beginning to get more confident in their academic works, for example, they now easily answer questions or ask questions during classes, make comments or lead group work while the boys just pretend to look elsewhere, have their head bowed or actually being distracted by something else.
Conclusion
The re-dedication to providing gender-balanced intervention programmes by international and local child development agencies, government, NGO’s and CSO’s and other relevant agencies for children should be acted upon as a matter of urgency. Legal and legislative framework providing for free access to development of individuals within the education system. The need for proper sensitization and enlightenment of the general public on the essence of paying equal attention to training of children no matter their sexes cannot be overemphasized.
Ethics Statement
Written informed consent from the participants' legal guardian/next of kin was not required to participate in this study in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all those who participated in the study.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were made:
a) Advocate for sensitization among communities/parents and other stakeholders. Sensitize them on the negative resultant effects of neglecting the boy child
b) Public enlightenment campaigns on radio, T.V, Social Media, through town-storms, workshops, events and one-on-one to re-orientate and re-engineer the mindset of adults on the perception of the male child taking compulsorily responsibility for the family as the breadwinner.
b) Guidance and Counseling in schools be enhanced and teachers should be trained on gender mainstreaming
c) Parents should be sensitized on the importance of sending children to secondary school level so that they can actively participate fully in the society.
d) Set-up of boys grooming clubs in schools to teach them everything that concerns them, which include Rights, Reproductive and Mental Health, Social interactions, relationship Management and so on, also establish centres of excellence in the state for boys where they can get to engage in more meaningful things
e) Undertake continuous review of curriculum/policy documents to ensure gender sensitivity
f) Ensure gender balance in School Management Committees (SMC), Board of Governors (BOG) and Parents Teachers Associations (PTA).
g) Implement affirmative action on bursaries and support infrastructure improvement, particularly for boys’ schools.
h) Teachers/society and stakeholders at large should shield the boy child from harmful practices such as drug abuse, alcohol and other deviant behaviors’.
i) A series of gender sensitization and awareness campaign workshops and seminars and affirmative action are needed to improve boy child access and participation in education and economic development
j) There is need to identify and recognize successful professional men within the society who can act as role models or mentors to the boys and engage them in different developmental projects for boys.
k) There is need to reinforce legal support for affirmative action program to eliminate discriminatory practices and also ensure that positive steps are taken to increase the number of boys enrolment and retention in both primary and secondary schools
References
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