A stitch in time

When a 13-year-old child is washing a full car in Lagos traffic for just N100 while his mates are in school, know that things are gradually falling apart in our neighbourhoods.

On my way to work Friday afternoon, July 12, 2019, under a light rain shower in traffic at Oshodi-Apapa Expressway between Fatgbems filling station and Mile 2, a 13-year-old child, Kayode, dropped out of school to join his mates in washing cars in traffic. Although car washing in traffic has become a trend in this axis of Lagos, I took special note because before I could call his attention, he had washed a part of my car. I reluctantly allowed him to finish it, and afterwards engaged him.

This is happening in Nigeria where education is supposed to be basic, free and compulsory for children up to 15 years, it is still very pathetic that no less than 10.5 million children – aged 5-14 years – are out of school, according to the latest data from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Sadly still, only 61 percent of 6-11 year-olds regularly attend primary school and only 35.6 percent of children aged 36-59 months receive early childhood education.

The majority of children who are unable to access safe and quality education are situated in Northern Nigeria, where across the region net attendance rate is at 53 percent.

Bauchi, Niger, Katsina, Kano, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, are the worst 10 states with about eight million children not in school and, an average enrolment rate of only 57 percent.

We know that the situation is awful in the north-eastern region, as insurgency has left about 2.8 million children in need of education-in-emergencies support across Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa. But what about these children washing cars across our mega city – Lagos; what has made them abandon school for quick money? “To help my parents”, Kayode said. He might be lying; the parents may not even know he has gone with friends to wash car in traffic, to make some quick money.

From recent records, in the north-eastern states, at least 802 schools remain closed and 497 classrooms listed as destroyed, while 1,392 have been damaged. Parents and guardians are petrified of sending their wards to school over the spate of kidnapping and vandalism of school property by terrorists.

The out-of-school situation is worse for female children in northeast and northwest where more than half of the girls are not in school. The violence in the region, economic hardship and cultural factors are odds stacked up against girls’ formal learning.

Further data show that only 47.7 percent of the official primary school-age population of girls attends school in the northeast, with net attendance rate for girls in the northwest at 47.3 percent. But this is not the case in Lagos, where residents enjoy near security of lives and property; where there is something for anybody willing to do something meaningful for a living – as I see adults picking pet bottles to sell to recyclers.

I still imagine the motivation for these children to abandon school for car washing in traffic, especially when school is in session.

According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS5), 2016/2017, conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF, 229,267 children are estimated to be out of school in Lagos State as at 2017, compared with 158,787 in Ogun State, 113746 in Ondo State, 463,280 in Oyo State, and 260,522 in Osun State. National estimate was 9.1 million children out-of-school. With these staggering figures, should we condone another child/ren dropping out of school when we can really do something about it?

We have heard and seen children growing into adulthood saying they were introduced into drugs and crimes on the streets, with some blaming their parents for lack of care. The issue of Kayode joining his mates to make quick cash calls for close parental guidance because I am sure the parents were not aware of him washing in traffic. But who gives them the sponge, bucket, soap and water with which they do their washing? Or are they washing cars to remit the proceeds to someone else sitting close by and monitoring their activities with promise of giving them protection, just as some child beggars disclosed.

Another mind burgling and ugly cankerworm is the traffic – the gridlock in Lagos that has defiled all human managerial skills for over a decade now. For a 13-year-old child to wash a full car in traffic, not in a hurry, shows the traffic is at a standstill. This is what commuters go through on a daily basis in that corner of the mega city. As the saying goes, “A stitch in time saves nine.”

The earlier we all join hands to stop this trend the better for our beloved city Lagos. The core that makes us Africans should be re-enacted – communalism. Government, parents and all adults should see these child-car washers as ‘our own.’ If we all see them as ‘our own’ correcting them and driving them out of the streets will become easier, as this should come as a form of our collective social responsibility. And on a more serious note, they should be arrested and invite their parents to get them, as a deterrent to others.

On the other side, the government should realise that a lot still needs to be done in traffic management in the state, so as to deny the streets from breeding more criminals and potential drug addicts.

OSA VICTOR OBAYAGBONA