From Womb to Prison: The Tragedy of Nigeria’s Incarcerated Children
The appalling state of Nigeria’s penal institutions has always been cause for serious concern. The recent revelation by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice that there are currently 300 children in Nigeria’s prisons, a number of whom were born within its walls or imprisoned along with their mothers, was most disturbing. The fact that prison authorities have since denied the figure, claiming ‘only’ 19 children are within prison confines was no less disturbing. LEONARD DIBIA says government should be alive to its many commitments to the Nigerian child
When Nigeria ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on April 16 1991, and followed up the ratification by signing both the relevant Optional Protocol and the African Charter on the Welfare of the Child, it naturally raised the hope and expectation among stakeholders that in a short while we would have put behind us unflattering legacies of our nation’s abuse of children's rights and alleviate a widespread system of destitution and deprivation amongst disadvantaged children. But, notwithstanding the glamour of the ratification ceremonies, the realities of the living conditions of the average Nigerian child today must lead to the inference that the Nigerian Government must have endorsed the Convention documents without reading any lines of their preamble, let alone the main clauses of the obligations they set forth to Member States.
Even on the supposition that the crisis of transition since 1993 may have accounted for the loss of steam over the child’s right agenda of successive governments, the promulgation by Nigeria of the Child ‘s Right Act of 2003 resuscitated the initial expectation for a “good day” for the Nigerian child. Five years of domestication has not only left us with just another dust-beaten statute on the bookshelf, it has left us content in our make-believe indulgence that promulgating the law is in itself the finish line of the matter. Legal history, dating from the time of the draconian Hammurabi laws stands for the view that no law in human society is self-executory.
Nigerian Justice System and Juveniles
Beyond the issue of neglecting our obligations under both local and international instruments on the rights of the child, the fact that we have maintained a criminal justice system of remand and detention which brazenly violates the terms of our obligations to the Nigerian child as prescribed by the UN Convention, the Child Rights Act of 2003 and the Children and Young Persons’ Act (CYPA) leaves us ranking below the threshold of not just “the developing world”, but, indeed, the abjectly “uncivilized world”. The increasing number of juvenile inmates in our prisons and remand centres, whether as awaiting trial inmates, or as destitutes-on-remand, or as infants in vicarious custody with their suspect mothers, puts a huge question mark on our juvenile justice administration. While recognising the need to enforce criminal justice, the nature of Nigeria’s obligations under the various child charters and laws, and the overall interests of the Nigerian child warrant a critical reflection whether our current system of custodial incarceration, with all its inhumane, destructive characteristics, meets the need for the accommodation, or reformation of juveniles.
The High Moral Tone of our Obligation under the UN Convention
The issue goes beyond the legality of the remand or imprisonment of the juvenile under any applicable law; it dovetails into the moral obligation of the State to tailor its remand or imprisonment regime in ways that meet the humanistic standards of our international and domestic commitments, as well as our moral claims to being a government and a modern nation-state.
The Constitutional Court of South Africa dealt remarkably with the jurisprudence of juvenile justice in the case of STATE v HENRY WILLIAMS & 4 OTHERS. The issue was not just the legality of the sentence of corporal punishment for juvenile rascality; it also implicated the conformity of such prescription to standards of decency recognised throughout the civilised world. The applicable criminal laws of South Africa were clear and unequivocal on the prescription of corporal punishment for acts of juvenile rascality. The juveniles in question were adjudged guilty of the offence.
Notable Convention Provisions as Policy Guides in Juvenile Justice Administration
Beyond the high moral tone of the preamble, the obligations of Nigeria under the articles of the convention stipulate that “in actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interest of the child shall be primary consideration” – see Article 3 of the Convention. Article 4 of the Convention enjoins member-states to undertake measures to enhance the social, economic and cultural rights of the child to the maximum extent of their available resources. Article 20 states that: “A child temporarily or permanently deprived of his or her family environment, or in whose own best interest cannot be allowed to remain in that environment, shall be entitled to special protection and assistance provided by the state”.
Against the background of Nigeria’s obligation under the enumerated articles of the Convention, one considers how far the phrase in Article 3 which reads “… the best interest of the child shall be the primary consideration” has been allowed to affect the sentencing policy of our courts, or affect the organisational policy of our remand and custodial institutions, or affect the budgetary policy of both federal and state governments in Nigeria.
The writer was in a Chief Magistrate Court, Apapa in 1998 where the arraigned suspect was a nursing mother whose baby was about eight weeks old. As the arraigned mother rocked the baby to silence (being in a court room) the learned Magistrate blurted out viciously at the arraigned mother stating thus: “You think your baby will save you today. You and your baby will rest in remand at medium prisons…” That singular experience made the writer to appreciate the philosophy of “alternative sentencing” in circumstances where an innocent toddler may face vicarious confinement and suffer the brutal conditions within the prison walls of Kirikiri with its delinquent mother. Both on grounds of humanity and in the light of Article 3 of the UN Convention, one wonders whether the primary consideration in sentencing (whether on remand or outright conviction) in such circumstances should not be the interest of the child.
Condition of Custodial Facilities in Nigeria a critical Factor in Juvenile Justice Consideration
As argued earlier, the case for a sound, pro-child inmate policy predicates creditably on the overriding strength of state obligation under the Child Rights Convention. Another reason for the writer’s concern is the infrastructural state of our prisons. If the nursing mother had been arraigned (with her toddler) before the US District Court of the 9th Circuit, California, or the British County Court in Cambridge, one would not make a fuss over a remand order or an outright conviction. In these countries, concern for children would forbid the incarceration of children; state funded child welfare and custody programmes would offer meaningful alternatives to the imprisonment of children with their mothers.
The mere prospect of remand in a “Medium” or “Maximum” Nigerian Prison is sufficiently horrifying, let alone when the name “Kirikiri” is added. In a February, 2008 report by Amnesty International on the state of Nigerian Prisons entitled “Prisoners’ Rights, Systematically Flouted”, the group observed that “Four of every five Nigerian Prisons were built before 1950” According to the report: “Many are in need of renovation: the infrastructure is old, many buildings can no longer be used, ceilings in others are about to collapse, the buildings in use as workshops are inadequate, and sanitary facilities have broken down. Every prison visited by Amnesty International has problems with its electricity supplies, and most with their water supplies as well. Several prisons do not have modern drainage systems, instead using open drains that create serious health risk for inmates and staff alike. Most Cells have only small windows for ventilation”
Corruptive Influence of Co-habitation with Adults also Critical
In addition to the infrastructural issue, the possibility of socialising infants into a world of crime is highly present when these infants, co-mingle freely with adult inmates. Children learn social values extremely quickly. When mixed-up with deviants, recidivists, and convicted felons, it should not take a rocket scientist to show how such infants will be formed. Our Children and Young Person’s Act in section 15 (3) provides that: “where no home is conveniently situated a child or young person ordered to be detained in a custody may in the discretion of the court be detained in a prison: PROVIDED that if a child or young person is detained in prison, he shall not be allowed to associate with adult prisoners”. Given the circumstances of Nigerian prisons, should any law authorising the detention of juveniles in prison make sense?
In fact Article 11 (2) of the Children and Young Persons’ Law captures what one may call the overriding policy in juvenile justice administration. The section reads: “No young person shall be ordered to be imprisoned if in the opinion of the court he can be suitably dealt with in any other way whether by probation, fine, corporal punishment, committal to a place of detention or to an approved institution or otherwise”. Notwithstanding the unconstitutionality of corporal punishment, the point being made is on the need for a well-structured regime of alternative sentencing which will meet the terms of our treaty obligations under the UN Convention with regard to juvenile justice administration.
Let there be a Tomorrow for our Children
The Nigerian State needs to wake up to its many commitments regarding children. Many statistics concerning children are extremely depressing. High infant mortality rates, widespread poverty and hunger, disease and homelessness, and lack of access to education are all excruciating reminders that the journey begun with the ratification of child rights charters has yet to progress beyond the rhetoric phase. While the State must act quickly to leverage its economic resources to improve the conditions of children, it must even act even quicker to save the future of many who are currently institutionalised in adult facilities, but are victims of society’s crime, not theirs. We must create and strengthen institutions that will guarantee that we will not anymore kill the future of our children before they get the chance to wake up in the morning of that tomorrow.
