To curb a rising culture of abuse

THE rising cases of maltreatment, even severe torture, of house-helps, especially under-aged ones, signpost a culture of servitude gaining ascendancy in Nigeria but which must be stopped for good. Nigeria may be a class-conscious society where the haves sometimes tend to lord it over the have-nots with impunity. This is, however, unacceptable and the numerous horrible examples of torture of domestic servants, which have often led to the death of the victims, should be investigated and punished.

Within the first three weeks of 2016 alone, some reported cases of child torture have raised consternation at the inhuman treatment of fellow Nigerians by their own compatriots especially.  A 12-year-old boy, Michael Agu, was, the other day brought to the Lagos State Government office, by a neighbour after he was allegedly slashed with razor blades and knife by his aunt for misplacing the sum of N100. The boy then refused to return home for fear of the constant torture meted to him by his aunt.

In another instance, a 39-year-old trader, Chinwe Abasi, was arrested for pouring hot water on a 12-year-old boy, Chinedu Okorie, for collecting some money from a neighbour to buy school socks. Chinedu, both a house-help and sales-boy, had requested the socks from his madam as schools reopened but the woman refused to get the socks for him, which forced him to seek help from outside. For that he was brutally tortured. The Police in Bariga, a suburb of Lagos, also arrested five men for gang-raping a primary five pupil, after she initially turned down the advances of one of them, a tailor identified as Femi.

On August 17, 2010, at Eko General Hospital, Surulere, a 14-year-old boy by name Oliver Arakwe, died after he was allegedly tortured to death by his employers, Elochukwu and Chiamaka Nnajiofor, for “misbehaving.” The testifying police officer told the court that they discovered during their investigation that the deceased was not only beaten to pulp but also kept in the toilet for two days.

In August 2013, police operatives arrested a woman named Mama Christiana at Barrack Line, Suru Alaba, Olodi Apapa area of Lagos, for inflicting physical and emotional wounds on her female house-help, leading to her death. The woman was said to have beaten the 16-year-old girl identified as Angel till she slumped and started gasping for breath. Sympathisers, reportedly, compelled the heartless woman to rush the girl to the hospital, where, unfortunately, she was pronounced dead on arrival.

The Police in Umuahia, Abia State, had in June 2015, arrested one Agnes Uchendu and her son Ikechukwu for allegedly inflicting injuries with hot iron on their house-helps Hope (11) and Ngozi (9), for allegedly stealing N100. The arrest followed a petition by the International Federation of Women Lawyers, Abia State Chapter.
The stories of torture especially of minors in various homes are indeed endless and harrowing.

It is common knowledge that across Nigeria, particularly, in the urban areas, many households engage the services house-helps, who serve as baby-sitters, drivers, cooks, gardeners, cleaners, etc. These house-maids are, however, often, turned into beasts of burden with their rights trampled upon and dignity rubbished. Without doubt, indeed, most households in Nigeria are guilty of engagement in modern-day slavery that the authorities should put an end to but which they appear to ignore.

Sadly enough, poverty and ignorance are at the root of this aberrant culture. Nigeria’s high poverty rate forces millions of indigent parents, especially those in the rural areas, to give their children out as domestic servants for monetary returns. Unemployment, poverty and absence of social security safety net leave poor parents with no other option than to send children they are unable to cater for into slavery and for their own sustenance from the proceeds of the servitude of those children.

Of course, the flip side of this practice is that some of the house-helps have turned out vicious against their employers and have committed heinous crimes, like the case of one Juliet who in February, 2015, abducted two kids in her care in exchange for a ransom. But the familiar narrative is that house-helps and domestic workers are often at the receiving end of a peculiar high-handedness from which they need to be protected.

Governance and service delivery to the people of Nigeria must improve to bridge inequality. And the onus is on the authorities to take necessary steps to protect a vulnerable segment of the society, which may find itself on the lowest rung of the ladder. Under the Child’s Rights Act, the rights of all children are guaranteed to pave way for their brighter future. A ban should, therefore, be placed on the employment of under-aged children as housemaids and servants. Persons found to have employed or maltreated such workers must be prosecuted and punished accordingly. Nigeria must strive to be one nation of equal people with inalienable rights and dignity.