by Godswill Odeku

Created on: April 28, 2008   Last Updated: April 30, 2008

In the words of Dennisada Ben-Fiabema, permanent secretary, Ministry of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation, Rivers State, Nigeria, "the phenomenon of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) is as old as the creation of the world.

As the years roll by, the situation and circumstances of children who are made orphans by all causes whether they are single orphans (i.e. children who have lost a parent) or double orphans (those who have lost both parents) are on the plummet for the worse and evokes in responsible minds and compassionate hearts a dire need to rise to the challenge of responding to the crisis they face.

This crisis, I must say, without equivocation, is a struggle for survival economically, educationally, psychologically, socially and otherwise. Children, hapless as they are, become orphans by varied causes and are faced with multifaceted challenges such as caring for the sick or dying parent, raising younger siblings, loss of property and inheritance, loss of household income, medical expenses and absenteeism and possibly drop out from school and work.

Nigeria's National Policy on Population for Sustainable Development (NPPSD) put it succinctly that "as a group, children face particular problems of child abuse, child labour, street children, exploitation of Almajiri children, malnutrition, HIV transmission, special needs of the girl-child, declining school enrolments, high drop-out rates for boys in some areas, amongst others." This implies that behind every statistics in the various issues negatively affecting OVC is the face of pain, waiting and wasting.

In summation, the situation in Nigeria plays out thus: out of 126 million, 69 million are children under 18 years; orphans constitute about 10% of the 69 million children under 18 years in Nigeria; about 7 million children were orphans in 2003; number of children who are orphans from loss of parents to AIDS is 1.8 million (26% of all orphans in 2003); estimates indicate about 8.2 million children to be orphaned by 2010. These figures predict millions of our children being vulnerable to poverty, preventable diseases, physical and sexual abuse, trafficking, lack of educational opportunities, and disease.

Exacerbating the already desperate situation of children is the HIV/AIDS epidemic killing parents, teachers and health workers, destroying the social fabric of communities, destabilizing our economy and leaving a generation of orphans in its wake. With millions of parents dying daily from the devastation

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