As the wave of revelations and operations by human rights groups to rescue victims of abuse away from family members in Nigeria continued, officials again rescued another starved and tortured boy whose full identity is yet to be ascertained in Maiduguri, Borno state capital.
The boy, believed to be 9 years old but not confirmed by his family had been subjected to severe beating, torture, and starvation by his step-mother whose identity is being withheld.
Citizen rights activists in Maiduguri took notice and stepped in, picking up the boy and handing over the case to the National Human Rights Commission.
One of the activists told reporters that the case had been taken over by the state office of the National Human Rights Commission.
“The boy’s ordeal started after his father divorced his mother. His step-mother regularly subjected him to serious beating and starvation. Officials of the National Human Rights Commission have reportedly taken up the matter,” so said the activist.
Recalls that three people have so far been rescued in the last two weeks after they were locked up in different locations in Kano by their families.
A 32-year-old man, Ahmad Aliyu, who had been locked inside a room by his father and stepmother for over seven years, was rescued by the police in Kano.
He was rescued on Thursday evening by police and some human rights groups at Farawa Babban Layi in Mariri quarters of Kumbotso Local Government Area in Kano metropolis.
The victim was chained and caged after he was accused of drug abuse by his parents.
Murtala Muhammad, a 55-year-old man, was rescued by the police in Kano after being locked up in a room by his father for 30 years.
Muhammad, a resident of Kofar Fada in Rogo Local Government Area of Kano State, was rescued by the police and Human Rights Network on Thursday.
An unidentified 32-year-old man was also rescued by the police after being locked up in a room by his father at Sheka neighbourhood in Kano for 15 years.
The victim was said to have been chained and caged for an undisclosed reason by his parents.
Psychologists React
Within one week, reports of parents abusing their children by locking them up to cure them of ailments made headlines in the Nigerian media.
Disturbed by the trend experts stressed that parents need awareness on mental health to avoid child abuse.
A psychologist, Dr Fatima Akilu, said the sudden discovery of victims of such gruesome domestic abuse in their homes was not new except that there was now an awareness of it happening as well as increased publicity.
“Parents have been doing this for years, whether at home or sending them to places where it will be done for them,” she said.
“They abuse their children in this way due to lack of awareness of mental illnesses, and the stigma attached to it in our societies.”
The lack of awareness is what pushes a lot of parents to confuse a patient of a mental condition for jinns or another spiritual problem, and handle the condition by other means instead of seeking professional help.
“Certain aspects in our society contribute to this. Parents would rather take their children to spiritual healers or religious leaders to pray the jinns out when that is actually not the underlying issue with the child. People need to realise that mental illness is real.
“When you need emotional help, you usually go to your place of comfort like your imam or pastor. But such issues like these are not their area of expertise. They should know to refer these people to where they can actually get help,” Akilu added.
Availability of treatment in remote areas is also a contributing factor, most especially for those with mental illnesses, being very hard to access healthcare, not to mention the budget allocated towards mental health in Nigeria being minuscule.
“States need to provide more facilities in all communities. More resources need to be put into mental health as well.
“The health budget is already low as it is and mental health only gets a fraction if it. There’s a need for more,” she added
There is also a need for more practitioners such as counsellors, social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists, Akilu said.
The underlying drug problem in the north is also one of the reasons that have made parents resort to taking matters into their own hands, she added.
“The same methods are used in some of our so called psychiatric centres or rehabs,” Akilu said.
“Some substances can induce mental conditions. Although substance abuse and mental health are two separate things, one can be induced by the other,” she pointed out.
The aftermath of going through such an ordeal can be catastrophic on the victim, Akilu said.
“Psychological issues stemming from being locked up for long periods of time without human contact can include hyper vigilance, avoidance of socialising, fear, induced psychotic episodes, depression and also stunted emotional growth.
“A lot of people don’t get the chance to be reintegrated into society. The state usually intervenes and takes them to psychiatric hospitals to seek intervention. But it is much harder to treat after being exposed to such a traumatic ordeal for that amount of time.
“Treatment will not be as effective compared to if it was done before the victim was chained up. The combined mental state of the victim prior to the lock up and the additional trauma can make it very difficult to treat,” she said.
But not all hope is lost, as there is still a possibility for victims to also recover, and carry out functional roles in society once again, Akilu said.
“With adequate treatment, they can reach their full potential,” she added.
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