Providing Sustainable Supports for Street Children in Nigeria:Stakeholders Challenges and the Policy Options Available

Abstract

This article examines the limitations of all stakeholders in providing support for street children in Nigeria in the face of continuous increase in their number with a view to identify possible policy options in the light of inabilities of the stakeholders to adequately support the children. Qualitative research techniques were employed to collect the primary data from NGOs, community members and government agencies saddled with the responsibility of caring for the children. It was found that the stakeholders are incapable of addressing the problems of street children due to inadequate skills, lack of necessary facilities and stakeholders working in parallels among others. It emphasizes the need for collaboration among stakeholders to enjoy the benefit of synergy while there is also need to embark on capacity development for all the stakeholders in order to make meaningful progress and the situation of the street children improved in the country.

Share and Cite:

Aransiola, J. (2013). Providing Sustainable Supports for Street Children in Nigeria:Stakeholders Challenges and the Policy Options Available. Advances in Applied Sociology, 3, 172-177. doi: 10.4236/aasoci.2013.33023.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] African Union (Formerly Oganisation of African Unity) (1999). African charter on the rights and welfare of the child 1999. Available at African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 1999.
[2] Aransiola, J. O., & Agunbiade, M. O. (2009). Coping strategies of street children in Nigeria. Journal of Social and Psychological Sciences. Oxford Mosaic Publications Limited, 2.
[3] Aransiola, J. O., & Akinyemi, A. I. (2010). Attitudes of street children to the network of supports available for them in Nigeria. IFE PsychologIA, 18. doi:10.4314/ifep.v18i1.51667
[4] Aransiola, J. O., Bamiwuye, S. O., Akinyemi, A. I., & Ikuteyijo, L. O. (2009). Proliferation of street children in Nigeria: Issues and challenges. Journal of Social Work, 9, 371-385. doi:10.1177/1468017
309342539
[5] Barkin, D., & Bouchez, C. P. (2002). NGO-community collaboration for ecotourism: A strategy for sustainable regional development. Current Issues in Tourism, 5, 245-253. doi:10.1080/1368350020
8667921
[6] Bourdillon (2001). The children on our streets. Reading for youth and childcare workers.
[7] Faloore, O. O. (2009). Social networks and livelihood of street children in Ibadan, Nigeria. International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 1, 82-89.
[8] Federal Government of Nigeria (2003). Nigerian child rights acts 2003 enacted by the national assembly of federal Republic of Nigeria.
[9] Fitzgibbon, K. (2003). Modern-day slavery? African Security Review, 12, 81-89. doi:10.1080/102460
29.2003.9627573
[10] Keen, J. (1990). Dealing with street children. The Child Care Worker, 8, 8-9.
[11] Le Roux, J. (1993). Street children: A “man-made” phenomenon. Journal of Pedagogics, 16, 31-39.
[12] Malindi, M. J., & Theron, L. C. (2010). The hidden resilience of street youth. South African Journal of Psychology, 40, 318-326. doi:10.1177/008124631004000310
[13] Micheal, S. (2002). The role of NGOs in human security. The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations and The Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, November 2002. Working Paper #12, Submitted to the Commission on Human Security as back ground material. http://www.hks.harvard.edu/hauser/PDF_XLS/workingpapers/workingpaper_12.pdf
[14] Mizen, P., & Ofosu-Kusi, Y. (2010). Asking, giving, receiving: Friend ship as survival strategy among Accra’s street children. Childhood, 17, 441-454. doi:10.1177/0907568209350511
[15] Oduro, G. Y. (2012). “Children of the street”: Sexual citizenship and the unprotected lives of Ghanaian street youth. Comparative Education, 48, 41-56. doi:10.1080/03050068.2011.637762
[16] Oloko, S. B. A. (1999). Child labour: The hidden workforce—Children domestic labour. The Progress of Nigerian Children, 48-51.
[17] Ron, A. (1999). NGOs in community health insurance schemes: Examples from Guatemala and the Philippines. Social Science & Medicine, 48, 939-950. doi:10.1016/S0277-9536(98)00394-3
[18] Scanlon, J. T., Tomkins, A., Lynch, M. A., & Scanlon, F. (1998). Street children in Latin America. Education and debate. BMJ, 316, 1596-1600. doi:10.1136/bmj.316.7144.1596
[19] The Parliament of Kenya (2001). Kenya children’s act 8 in 2001. http://www1.chr.up.ac.za/undp
/domestic/docs/legislation_03.pdf
[20] The Parliament of the Republic of Ghana (1998). Ghana child right act 560. http://mowacghana.net
/download/childrens_act.pdf
[21] UNFPA (2003). State of world population: Overview of adolescent life. http://www.unfpa.org/swp
/swpmain.htm
[22] UNICEF (2002). The state of the world’s children. http://www.unicef.org/sowc02/
[23] UNICEF (2007). At a glance: Nigeria. Digital diary; Nigerian street children tell their stories of life without security. http://www.unicef.org/people/nigeria_42282.html
[24] UNICEF (2012). The state of the World’s children. http://www.unicef.org.uk/Latest/Publications/state
-of-the-worlds-children-2012/
[25] Vasino, L. (1990). The socialization of street children: The development and transformation of identities. Sociological Studies of Child Development, 3, 139-161.

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.