Echoes of Christmas and the plight of children in Benue

Certain events at Christmas create lasting memories. The birth of Christ in Bethlehem was similarly served by a conjunction of events that created enduring memories: namely, religious worship, economic
concerns and political crisis.

Worship occurred as the choirs of angels rejoiced and shepherds bowed in adoration to the baby in a manger. Economic concerns underlined the decree by Caesar Augustus to conduct a census of the entire Roman world (Luke 2:1-20). At the same time, the unsettling spirit of Herod at the news of a newborn king generated a dangerous political crisis. As the Gospel of Matthew reports,Herod’s worry precipitated the massacre of many infants whose only crime was to be born in Judea at that time (Matt 2:1-18).

In Benue State during this past Christmas of 2022, a particular event inspired me to think about the situation of children in our society. A video clip shared on social media captured Father Hyacinth Alia, the APC governorship candidate, celebrating Christmas with some children in Makurdi, the State Capital.

Whatever may have been Father Alia’s motivation, his presence among children dancing at a Christmas party had a package of positive impressions. Many people regard Christmas as a celebration for children;indeed, we have Christmas because a child was born. Nevertheless, Christmas remains incomplete for children when there is no “father Christmas.”

Importantly, beyond its joyful aspects, Christmas has painful memories that we often forget to
acknowledge. Soon after his birth, the child Jesus became a fugitive, a migrant and a refugee, owing to
the personal political insecurity of a king. Heeding the angel’s advice, Joseph and Mary fled with the baby Jesus from the wrath of Herod to Egypt. The wise men from the East obeyed the instruction of the angel and did not return to Herod as he had requested. Thus, Herod’s political frustration became highly inflammable, the prize for which innocent children unjustifiably paid. Those children were born without the fortune to live. Likewise, many children in Benue are victims of a mediocre political thinking that has left the State in a dungeon of sorrows.

I recall an encounter with some primary school pupils who walked for more than four kilometers, Monday through Friday, to attend school. Because of the long distance, they had to wake up at 5:00 a.m. to be in school by 7:30 a.m. According to them, they would leave their homes without eating or bringing along any food or snack to school. They only ate after school in the afternoon, around 3:30 p.m. I was moved by their story and decided to buy some packs of cabin biscuits for them. Their words of gratitude and the joy on their faces left me deeply humbled. I knew that the packs of biscuits for a day were insignificant, considering those children had six years of daily walking without food. I wondered how the reality of such children allied with the idea of Benue as the food basket of Nigeria.

A 2015 report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) ranked Nigeria as
a country with “the second highest burden of stunted children in the world, with a national prevalence
rate of 32 percent of children under five.” The report estimated that about two million children in Nigeria “suffer from severe acute malnutrition” and only two percent of these children are able get treatment.

The effects of malnutrition, according to the UNICEF report, include an increased risk of death, poor cognitive development, impaired performance in education and low productivity in adulthood, all of which contribute to economic losses estimated to account for as much as eleven percent of Gross
Domestic Product (GDP).

From my perspective, the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme is among the most deserving
initiatives of the Buhari administration. Its aim to improve the health and educational outcomes of public primary school pupils is praiseworthy. However, my concern has been whether the greed of those in charge of the programme has allowed it to succeed in achieving its laudable objectives. It has been a common Nigerian experience for such initiatives to end up as sources of dishonest self-enrichment for its superintendents.

A media report in 2017, indicated that pupil enrolment in schools increased due to the school feeding programme. Will Benue politicians and stakeholders consider this kind of program as a better way of investing in State development instead of stacking stolen money in sacks to rot away?
As a result of the deteriorating economy, many children in Benue State are slaving in homes of “uncles” and “aunts,” where they are constantly dehumanized. Stories such as the death of 13-year-old Ochanya Ogbanje represent the poignant situation of many children in Benue who suffer in the hands of those who should instead be protecting them. Ochanya allegedly suffered years of sexual molestation in her maternal
aunt’s home from age five until she died in 2018. We currently have an entire generation of children
languishing in the IDP camps while politicians irresponsibly continue to serve the public with verbal
banquets of insults against their opponents.

Several political commentators have suggested that Nigeria’s 2023 general elections primarily concern
the youths and their hope for the future. I would add that the election is also about the vulnerable children of our society whose welfare depends on the religious faith, as well as the socio-economic and political decisions and practices of parents and every Nigerian adult. As children provide hope for the survival of a society, they must not be forgotten by anyone who desires a better society. St. John Chrysostom reminds us that we are responsible for bestowing great care upon our children and ensuring that evil does not snatch them from us.