THE LOSS OF INNOCENCE

Recently I read two stories that broke my heart. They were the usual ritual tales of how unsuspecting persons are led to their deaths by people they trust. The reason these Nigerian ‘true’ stories broke my heart was because in both tales, children were the victims. One was a JSS 3 boy who was sold for a black nylon bag full of money by his classmates. By the time the curious Keke Marwa driver who had been chauffeuring them that afternoon got suspicious and dropped them at the police station to report the case, the victim’s head and genitals had already been chopped off. The second story was about how a 7year old boy was seduced with a N50 loaf of bread by a neighbour who beheaded him after drowning him in a nearby River. All this for a huge sum of money a ‘guy’ in Abuja would pay them if the fresh human head was delivered as promised. The first case happened on the 19th of July, 2012 in Lagos State and the second case reported by DailyPost online Newspaper on the 25th of July, 2012, happened on July 22nd 2012 in Nasarawa State (both states are in Nigeria).

Though I was saddened by the stories, I couldn’t help feeling poverty, lack of contentment and greed were to blame for such dilemma. What has our society become? When did the value for human life become nothing in the bid to make money? I know such tales have been around since before the British Invasion in the late 19th century but with global communications and advancement, one would think such desperate people would have been empowered enough to work hard and make their own money and name in life with clean hands. Such barbaric practises should have been disregarded by now especially with tales of how people’s talents and hard work have helped them rise above poverty. And how come children now feel the need to make money up to the point where human life has only monetary value? Aren’t parents supposed to meet the needs of their children when they are young and teach them financial accountability as they grow older?

Reading those stories forced me to instantly reflect on the Good Ol’ Days when I was a 7year old toddler and when I was in Junior Secondary School - JSS 3 to be precise. I could vividly remember how innocent I was. At 7yrs of age, I used to spend playtime in my neighbours’ houses: Uncle Papa, the German white man would give us chocolates; Origomisan’s mum would let us come play in her house while her daughter would babysit us in our parents’ absence. The Ekongs would let us hang out with their sons watching TV and playing with their aquarium while the Babas would allow us eat lunch, sleep over and enjoy their children’s company despite them being Muslims and we being Christians. We had no reason to worry - neither did our parents - that some harm would come to us from associating with neighbours.

In JSS 3, we trying to decide our future career path based on the choice of subjects we chose to focus our study on when we enter the Senior Secondary School, SSS1 to be precise. Emotionally we spent our time talking to our classmates over the company estate’s landlines about crushes, people that were dating, receiving and rejecting love-letters from admirers, not to mention how easy it was for the opposite sex to break our heart. Sure there was a financial social strata everyone fell into but rather than try to escape the reality of our parents’ financial state, we sort ways to be acknowledged. Sometimes we’d seek academic excellence, other times we would rely on our social skills or personality traits. The naughty ones would break school rules just to be the ‘badest guys’ on the block. We watched Tom & Jerry, Voltron, Disney cartoons etc and dreamed of living happily forever after. No one ever sought personal get rich quick scheme just to fit in. Where did the innocence of our childhood go and how can we bring it back?