Nigeria: COVID-19, The Girl Child And Biting Poverty-1

In Ofunama, an Ijaw community in Ovia South-West Local Government Area of Edo State, seven-year Josephine, does not appear to have a bright future. Not because she is the daughter of a fisherman father.

Ofunama is still a rustic Ijaw community, detached from the trappings of modernity. There are neither well-equipped schools nor health facilities. The community is part of the Egbema Kingdom. As a matter of fact, it is the cradle of the kingdom in Edo and Delta states.

This Ijaw people (Egbema) live to the east and west of the Benin River in Southern Delta State Delta. The Kingdom is split politically into two different states mainly due to fears of their neighbours like the Itsekiri and the Edos of their large numbers in order to gain political advantage over them.

Originally, Ofunama was known as Ofiniama. It is said to be the first settlement from where all others took off from. Despite their location on the western fringe of Ijawland, Egbema still has a strong Ijaw cultural identity.

The Kingdom traces its origins to several migrations from the Mein, Iduwini, and Ekeremor tribes centuries ago.

Egbema tribe is under the overlordship of the Agadagba of Egbema Kingdom. The Kingdom is made up of nine major towns (clans) better known as the Egbema Isenabiri. The Egbema Isenabiri are in their right clans under the Kingdom. The Isenabiri are: Ofiniama, Opuama, Ajakoroama, Ogbudugbudu, Gbeuba, Ogbinbiri, Abere, Zamagie and Bolou-Zamagie

During the era of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a dreaded militant group, Egbema youths joined MEND in fighting for political justice for the Ijaw people in Edo. They did not see themselves as militants but as ‘’freedom fighters’’.

The MEND leader in that axis who went by the name Egbema 1, said: ‘’We were not involved in hostage-taking nor on willful destruction of oil facilities. Whenever we hit at oil facilities, we did so to attract attention since no one wanted to listen to us since 1962 when the defunct Mid-West Region was created.’’

Interestingly, Adams Oshiomhole was the first governor since 1962 to visit Ofunama. He visited the area on Wednesday, January 21, 2009. On that occasion, Oshiomhole declared that Egbema people made Edo to be counted among the oil-producing states in Nigeria.

But, the area has been unjustly cheated with no robust social infrastructure to launch the likes of Josephine to greater heights.

As an oil-bearing community, Ofunama has nothing to show for its oil wealth. The community has no access roads, no good drinking water, no electricity, no healthcare facility, no standard school. According to Egbema 1, their arms struggle was aimed at making the authorities to create separate local government councils for the Ijaw people of Edo.

They were agitating for a minimum of five local government areas to be created for them. The five council areas they were asking for are: Egbema North-East with headquarters at Ofunama, Egbema North-West with Ajakurama as its headquarters, Olodiama with headquarters at Inikorogha, Okomu/ Safarogbo with headquarters at Okomu, and Furupagha with Jide as its headquarters.

There are no standard motorable roads linking the largely riverine Ijaw communities with the rest of Edo state. Most of the roads like Udo-Inikorogha-Ofunama; Ajakurama-Gbeoba-Gbolukanga-Abere; Ajamagie-Ofunama; Okomu-Safarogbo; Siluko-Gbelebu-Jide; Benin-Ikoro-Ekenwa-Iboro; and Benin-Ekenwa-Gelegele roads are literally bush-paths due to decades of neglect.

In 1977 when the Udo-Ofunama road was constructed as an earth road, it took the Ijaw people 45 minutes to travel from Udo to Ofunama. Today, that same journey is taking virtually a whole day with transport fare ranging between N1500 and N2000.

Oshiomhole had admitted that his first attempt to visit Ofunama, after travelling for five hours did not succeed. Besides two government vehicles breaking down, Oshiomhole said he had to abandon the trip two weeks earlier because of the deplorable state of the road.

”The journey we could not accomplish then in five hours, took us 12 and a half minutes by helicopter from Benin Airport”, the former governor said.

Going by Egbema 1’s testimony, people die frequently in the community from preventable diseases, pointing out, ”the tragedy of our situation is that we drink from the same source of river we use as our toilet”.

Following the appointment of Egbema 1 as Oshiomhole’s aide, the administration tried to address some of the pressing issues that crippled the progress of the state.  Yet, Ofunama is still yearning for greater attention.

However, whenever the Nigerian government will decide to reopen schools, some of the school children across the country of about 200 million people, will not be able to return to their classrooms.

Like in Ofunama, infrastructural deficit and abject poverty are key factors in the Niger Delta area. Schools were shut in Nigeria on March 19 over the novel coronavirus outbreak, leaving the authorities to adopt alternative modes of learning for children at all levels.

In Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, for instance, a thriving hub of oil and gas business, Iya, a 13-year-old girl will no longer afford the ‘luxury’ of continuing with her education.

Iya was living with a guardian grandma in a thatched house. The grandma struggled to cater for Iya’s education in a community primary school. Shortly after the outbreak of COVID-19, the grandma travelled to the land of the dead.

Weeks after the passing of the grandma, a relatively well to do man who acquired the property, whose funds aided in the burial rites of the departed grandma, sent Iya and her little sister packing and erected a bungalow on the land.

No one in the Eket village where this incident happened knows where Iya and her sister are. Throughout the Eket sub-region of Akwa Ibom, and indeed, Nigeria, there are tens of thousands of others like Iya and Ofunama’s Josephine.

Ironically, Eket, the home of the American oil giant, ExxonMobil, boasts of more than 250 companies providing support services such as catering, flights, and exports for the oil industry.

Eket is also the second-largest city in Akwa Ibom after Uyo, the state capital. Its name refers to the indigenous ethnic group of the area and to their language. It is an industrial city that in recent years has become a conurbation engulfing separate villages, with a population of over 500,000. The urban area which covers Okon, Nsit Ubium, Idua, Afaha Eket, Afaha Atai and Esit Eket, has a combined population of around one million.

The plight of Josephine, Iya and her sister clearly mirror the economic future of millions of Nigerians who are wallowing in abject poverty. Their future is at risk. Nigeria’s economy like most others around the world has been infected by infectious COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a tremendous effect on learning in remote rural communities of the country’s vastly polluted oil and gas region, the Niger Delta. It is adversely affecting rural communities where education has not been a priority, particularly girls’ education.

Disturbingly, Mercy Corps has said that millions of girls are out of school, most of them adolescent mothers, some divorced or even widowed.

Mercy Corps is however concerned with alleviating suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities. It is a global team of humanitarians, working together on the front lines of today’s biggest crises to create a future of possibility, where everyone can prosper.

It appears, a lot still needs to be done in the polluted oil and erosion-ravaged communities of the Niger Delta and Eastern Nigeria in terms of quality of and access to education. The raging COVID-19 is worsening a situation that has been bad in remote rural communities of the two marginalised regions.

Escalating Virus Infection

At the current official infection rate in Nigeria, the country is likely to record over 30,000 positive cases by the end of July. Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) late on Monday reported 566 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 25,133.

NCDC says with eight new deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the fatality figure in the country has risen to 573 in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Of the 566 new confirmed cases, Lagos led the pack with 166 cases, followed by Oyo – 66, Delta – 53, Ebonyi – 43, Plateau – 34, Ondo – 32, Abuja – 26, Ogun – 25, Edo – 24, Imo – 15, Bayelsa – 13, Benue 12, Gombe – 11, Kano – 11, Kaduna – 11, Osun – eight, Nasarawa – seven, Borno – five, Katsina – two, and Anambra – two.

‘’After this period of the pandemic, statistics will surely show an increased number of school dropouts by adolescent girls due to forced marriages and teenage pregnancies’’, says Mercy Corps’ Sabdio Darso.

Sabdio Darso is a Girls Improving Resilience with Livelihood (GIRL) Project Officer for Mercy Corps, based in Kenya. As a GIRL officer, she manages and works with hundreds of vulnerable adolescent girls, in and out of school, to help them realise economic empowerment, increase their food security, and improve their ability to adapt to crisis.

She is a 2019 Mandela Washington Fellow for Young African Leadership Initiative, where she studied Leadership in Civic Engagement at the University of Georgia. She is passionate about child protection and development.

According to the group, ‘’school has long been a safe haven for vulnerable girls. Those who were in boarding schools received support and protection from the government. But now that they are confined to their homes, what will happen? Your guess is as good as mine. Most girls have no food, basic supplies like sanitary towels nor the resources to study from home.’’

In Nigeria, the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has urged the government not to reopen schools, television viewing centres and other areas of public interest.

PTF Chairman and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, said in Abuja, the country’s capital: ‘’We have received reports that some states are contemplating the opening of schools, television viewing centres, sports stadium and other places where large gatherings could take place. The PTF re=emphasises that it is not yet safe to do so and that utmost caution should be exercised in this regard.’’

Mustapha also asked security agencies to enforce the ban on interstate travels in the country. He also warned Nigerians to desist from large gatherings of “whatever category” in order to prevent contracting the virus.

In the meantime, the government has advised tertiary institutions in the country to put preventive measures against COVID-19 in place before it announces their re-opening.

Speaking at the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) 2020 virtual policy meeting, Education Minister, Adamu Adamu, said educational institutions should not wait until the federal government announces reopening or the NCDC issues guidelines for their resumption before taking actions.

While urging all the heads of institution not to wait till the announcement on opening before putting in place all necessary measures in compliance with the protocols and advisories of the NCDC, Adamu who was represented by the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, said the government is seriously concerned about the lockdown of educational institutions and the PTF is working with facts and figures to limit the negative effects of the pandemic

He said for a campus to be reopened, it must do the following: Install hand-washing facilities, have equipment for body temperature checks; provide body disinfectants at all entering points to their major facilities, including the gates, hostels, classes, offices, etc; the whole premises of each institution must be decontaminated; all efforts must be geared toward maintenance of the highest level of hygiene; and ensure social/physical distancing in class sizes and meeting spaces.

The minister also commended institutions that are engaging in inventions to counter the pandemic like ventilators, sanitizers, hand-washing machines among others.

“Such institutions should submit the inventions to the Federal Ministry of Education in order to name and honour some of the unique inventors. We also recommend that institutions purchase these home-made products. I am elated with the efforts that led to the production of Ventilator, Body Disinfectant, Hand Washing and Liquid Dispensers, Body Temperature Gauges, and more.”

Like in most communities, girls walk to the stream and fetch water to start off their day. They wash last night’s dishes before they can work on the family laundry. Planning out their days and filling them with chores has been their routine ever since governments closed all educational institutions in the country due to COVID-19.

In communities that are still deprived of modernity, their new routine means that anything to do with school and books is no longer a priority, since their family has more pressing needs like taking care of the younger ones.

This essentially locks out any thoughts about their books — still in a tattered bag that most mothers threw under their makeshift bed. The books will lie there until Abuja announces through the radio that schools are set to reopen.

This is just a representation of many students in rural areas of Nigeria, a supposed giant of Africa, who can’t afford access to quality education and are further affected when schools are closed.

There is so much uncertainty in the whole world with everybody affected in one way or the other. It has been just a couple of weeks, but it has felt like a lifetime already. Vulnerable communities in remote places are facing more problems in terms of social and economic well-being than others.

Pastoralist communities of Northern Nigeria face many uncertainties on a daily basis, but the uncertainty that comes with a pandemic like COVID-19 may be more difficult.

There is still limited awareness about the virus among people even in Abuja. At the busy Berger on Tuesday, a bus conductor told this reporter, ‘’oga coronavirus no dey Nigeria they just dey deceive us’’ Before the Tuesday encounter with the bus conductor, a taxi driver who spoke a measure of good English asked his apprehensive passengers who pleaded to buy a face mask at Karu bridge, ‘’gentlemen, does COVID-19 really exist? I think this thing is a ploy to steal public funds.’’

Still, most believe that COVID-19 will never reach them, that no cases will be reported in their area, that they are all safe, and that it is now, and will continue to be, business as usual. This is their strong belief. But the world is prepared, the system is prepared and the government has put up measures including the closure of schools.

Mercy Corps is concerned about vulnerable girls

Mercy Corps is however worried that many vulnerable girls will be exposed to harmful cultural practices like Female Genital Mutilation and early or forced marriage. In some areas, girls become engaged as early as four years of age. Some get the opportunity to be in school just to learn the basics. Fewer are lucky to be given the opportunity to learn up to grade eight, but it’s an opportunity that will surely be taken away.

‘’In my community, March, April and September are the months for traditional weddings’’, a young woman who did not want her name in print told this reporter. Pupils and students have been at home since March and no one knows when they will return back to the classrooms. And for non-academic staff in private schools, it has been no pay for them since March. For the unmarried ladies, they have become vulnerable.

As a result of the harsh economic situation in the villages, many young girls are being forced into early marriage. And due to COVID-19 restrictions on social gatherings, only a few family members come together and sell off their girl without any gender rights group knowing.

According to Sabdio Darso, ‘’I remember when my mates and I were in primary school. Some of us were engaged at a very young age. We had no resources, but luckily our parents gave us the opportunity to learn up to grade eight. We looked forward to being in school because that was the only place we could get basics like food and sanitary towels. The school was the only place to prove ourselves worthy and escape harmful practices.

‘’We looked forward to social gatherings — specifically in church — because that is where we could get an opportunity to play with our mates and get support. As a group of teenagers, the church was also where we started creating our own small work opportunities, getting stipends to support our vulnerable selves.

‘’Because my story is the same as that of so many other vulnerable girls today, I am scared for them. I am, like so many of us, scared for my own future. But their futures come with more uncertainty. How many girls will get the opportunity to get back to school after this pandemic?

‘’Over this period, a focus on advocating and talking about keeping girls in school is as important as building awareness on proper hygiene and how to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It is girls’ education that produces exceptional gains in areas of health, infant mortality and the economic well-being of families.

‘’I am speaking on the need to have every child back in school once this pandemic ends. I am speaking for universal education — the need for every girl and boy to report back to school so they can build their futures.’’

In a seeming frantic bid to gradually rescue the ailing economy, businesses on Monday, June 1, got a new lease of life as the Federal Government commenced the phase two of easing the COVID-19 lockdown.

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