Child Witchcraft, Child Right Act And The State

The above headline is not originally mine. It was first coined and used by the British authority as its national anthem; And the British National Anthem – “God Save The King” or “Queen.” as the case may be from when it is taken, could be described as both a prayer and an anthem!

The phenomenon of child-witchcraft has hit us like a plague today in Nigeria. In fact, there is no gainsaying that it is a plague, perhaps worse than any other ever known in history. It is a serious problem which the society and government in particular should no longer ignore.

Witchcraft is not new in the society. In fact, one could say that it has been with man since the beginning of time. Even the Christian bible makes mention of it, and warns Christians not to associate with it.

In some societies, witchcraft is a recognized practice, though it sometimes depend on the type of witchcraft. In some Western countries like Norway, witchcraft is more or less like any other fraternity. It is a public thing. Witches and wizards do not hide their identities in these countries. Again this depends on the type of witchcraft.

The type of witchcraft as practised by Africans unfortunately seems to be more will than those in the West, though this is a subject for metaphysicists to debate. Nevertheless the general perception about witchcraft in Nigeria since time immemorial has been that it is usually associated with evil. In a nutshell, it is diabolical.

Even the traditional Western perception of witchcraft does not refute the Nigerian perception. This goes to show that witchcraft in whatever guise is associated with evil – so it is evil.

Though witchcraft is not new in the world, child- witchcraft is a new phenomenon. It is a modern development. Its spread is very alarming, at least from the unofficial statistics. If the statistics put forward by churches and other spiritual houses in Nigeria is anything to go by, then four out of every 10 children in Nigeria are initiates of witchcraft. What a plague! It means that if nothing is done and urgently too, our society will be overrun by witches and wizards.

Child- witchcraft appears to be very rampant now than ever. A day hardly passes without children being identified as or confess to having witchcraft. Though people are still skeptical about the veracity of such identifications or confessions.

This phenomenon has created a severe social vice in Nigeria. It is the major cause of street-children in the country. Children alleged to be witches and wizards are usually abandoned and thrown into the street by their parents or guardians.

The development really brings our moral values to question, just as it poses some fundamental questions about the children’s rights. It is certainly unbelievable that a mother who carried a child in her womb for nine months or more, labored to bring him or her forth, would later stigmatize the child as a witch and threw him or her away from her home onto the street. It is also ridiculous that the father also collaborates in the action. He could also spearhead it.

It is very unbelievable, but that is what is going on. But again, we should also ask ourselves, could reasonable parents stigmatize their children as witches and throw them out of the house without cause? Or could parents or guardians stigmatize their children or wards as witches, if they are not? Perhaps guardians could, but certainly not parents.

The stigmatization of a child as a witch or wizard, and the child’s subsequent abandonment to the street by his or her parent (parents/or guardian is a serious violation of the child’s fundamental rights. In fact, it is evil. These are the cases the Child’s Right Act seeks to address.

People and some non governmental organizations, (NGOs) have risen to condemn the acts of branding children as witches and wizards, abandoning them and casting them away onto the street, where they roam without shelter, food, clothing and care.

The sight of such children is always sympathetic. It is the greatest evil anybody could do to one of God’s most wonderful creatures.

But again, perpetrators of this evil would say, “Well, there is nothing we can do.” One might even add, “If one of God’s most wonderful creatures has turned evil, there is nothing one can do”… than show them the way to the street.

But again, let us look at the issue critically. Are these children so alleged really witches? Or is there anything like child-witchcraft? Those condemning the fate meted out to the children seem to argue strongly that such thing as child-witchcraft does not exist, even in Nigeria. They see it as superstition. But what one will want to know is whether these people believe there is anything like witchcraft at all. – adult-witchcraft, that is.

If there is witchcraft, – adult witchcraft – then child-witchcraft is very possible. Those who have witnessed children being identified by good churches and spiritual houses, and confessions by the children will have no doubt that the thing really exist, that child-witchcraft is something that is real. It is not a superstition or fiction.

A child of say five to seven years would shock one by what he or she says about witchcraft in his or her confession. For a child of these ages to own up that he or she is a witch even before his parents, after being identified in the church or elsewhere, means that the child certainly knows something about witchcraft. He or she is not a novice about it.

Equally, for a child to be able to describe in detail his activities and those of others in the coven – witchcraft world – really signifies that he or she is an adept member of the coven.
Often, the child goes to the extent of mentioning names of the person who initiated him or her into the ‘cult’. He will also mention his or her initiate name– witchcraft name – in the coven.

He or she often does not make mistakes. If he or she says so and so person initiated him or her into witchcraft, or his or her coven name is so and so to one person, the child will never say a different thing to another person.

All this goes to show that the child knows what he or she is saying. It shows that the child knows what witchcraft is, what witches do and that he or she belongs in the witchcraft society. That is, he or she is a wizard or witch. Cases abound where such a children would mention other children and adults who are also members of the group. In most cases, they are always right.

Thus, the issue of child- witchcraft needs no further debate. Child-witchcraft actually exists in Nigeria. And there is no way reasonable parents or guardians would want to accommodate a child or ward who has confessed to witchcraft, given the quantum and nature of the child’s confessed evil. Or would a parent or guardian condone a child who has confessed to being responsible for the woes the family, the parent or guardian has been passing through? No sensible parent would!

The issue at hand is not whether or not there is child-witchcraft, but rather how do we deal with it. How should it be curbed, prevented or exterminated? Child-witchcraft is inimical to our children. It is a threat to the healthy survival of the human race.

The Child’s Right Law recently domesticated in Nigeria could be very vital to wage war against child-witchcraft in Nigeria. Rather than the proponents and champions of Child’s rights discarding child-witchcraft as a superstition, they should ensure that the child is sufficiently protected against it.

I have not seen the Child’s Right Act, but one could bet that there is no provision against a child being wrongfully initiated into witchcraft and any related fraternity by its parents, guardian or anybody. The child’s rights must be made to include rights against wrongful initiation into anything, for instance witchcraft, by anybody.

The government cannot shy away from its responsibility of protecting children in the society. Government has always paid deaf hears to the phenomenon of witchcraft in the society, and it is not helping the society, considering the enormity of havoc the phenomenon has continued to wreak. Child-witches or wizards are not different from their adult counterparts in terms of the evil they perpetrate.

So government should commit itself to fight child-witchcraft in the Nigerian society. Government can no longer ignore the phenomenon. A lot of confessional evidence is there to prove and show that it is an evil that should be fought squarely, that should be eradicated in the society.

Government can do a number of things to save our children, society and mankind from the evil of child-witchcraft. It can outlaw witchcraft entirely. In this case, it would be criminal for anybody, child or adult to engage in witchcraft. The punishment for such should be very severe.

Secondly, government can make it mandatory for witchcraft to be a registered organization, with the names of its members, code of conduct and laws clearly spelt out. Their meetings should be made public.

Thirdly, there should be a law enacted to regulate the activities of witches and wizards, if government cannot outlaw it completely. Such law must ensure that the sanctity of human life and human well-being is not violated by witches and wizards.

Equally, the law should specify the age limit for membership in witchcraft. It should be made criminal and a capital offence for children to be initiated into it by their parents, guardians, friends or anybody.

The law must stipulate that initiation into witchcraft must be voluntary – through the person’s conscious consent. Nobody should coax or force anybody to be initiated into witchcraft under any guise.

Our children must be rescued from the plague of child-witchcraft. Government must wake up to stamp it out. Churches or any spiritual means capable of delivering the already affected children should be licensed and employed to rid our society of the plague.

THE PIONEER