Child abuse could be referred to the act of maltreating, a child maltreatment of child could be in the form of physical, sexual neglect or emotional abuse of the child. These abuses usually occur at home, school or community.
In some developed countries, the prevention of child abuse is among their top priority and this issue is addressed with strict laws and policies that help to curtail it. Different bodies have also specified their opinion of what constitutes child abuse.
According to a journal of child abuse neglect, child abuse “is any recent act of failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, persons physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, an act of failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harms”.
Physically abusing a child usually involves a direct aggression towards a child. Most countries that implement the law of child abuse consider the intentional infliction of severe injuries or action that has a tendency of placing a child at a conspicuous risk of acquiring serious injuries or may cause death, bruises, scratches, broken bones etc as physical abuse.
Similarly involvement of a child in sexual activities, which is aimed towards physical gratification or for financial purpose of the person committing the act could be referred to a sexual abuse. The various ways of abusing a child could be forcing, or asking a child for sexual satisfaction, nut withstanding the outcome, sexual touching of the child’s genitals, exposing one’s genitals indecently to a child, actual sexual contact with a child etc.
Often times those who are involved in sexual abuse of children are usually related to the family or regarded as family friends. They include brothers, fathers, mothers uncles, cousins, friends of the family and often times baby sitters and neighbours with few cases of strangers.
Another aspect of child abuse is neglecting failure of a parent or guardian to provide the basic needs of a child could also be considered as child abuse.  Needs such as food, shelter, clothing medical care, supervision of the child’s health and safety of child are the sole responsibility of the parents or guardian.
When a child is frequently absent from school, always looking unkept, and lacks sufficient clothing ,it is a clear indication that the child is being neglected which could be associated with child abuse.
Another obvious factor of child abuse which is commonly found on the streets of our beloved country Nigeria is children hawking wares. Experts have referred to these acts of child molestation as child labour.
Many parents send their children to hawk ware for various reasons ranging from poverty, tradition, and supplementing family income among others.
However, these reasons expose  them to dangers which are particularly worse if they are females. In some communities only girls hawk, while their parents and male children stay at home.
These children leave home as early as 6 am and most times return as late as 11.pm. they hawk under all kinds of weather condition.
Some of them whose guardians or parents beat and starve for not making enough sales even hawk in the rain.
The fact that some of the children hawk in groups has not apparently reduced the problems and dangers they encounter on daily basis. They are always looking tired warn out, hungry with torn clothes. Their shoulders always drooping and hunched, barely able to lift their feet.
They are so unfortunately poor and cannot even afford to go to school except in the farm of naming about with their wares.
They have potentials, but unfortunately they seldom get armed to realize their potential. Except may be  as hired thugs to politicians or militants. The lucky ones will graduate into big time touts, bus conductors, and small time pick pockets. The nut-so-lucky ones, however, will become drug peddle, prostitutes, armed robbers and social mis-fits in the society.
Sick parents capitalize on this accepted practice of street trading to carry out their dubious plans against innocent looking children. They lure these unsuspecting traders to their house with the pretext of patronizing them.  Minutes later the innocent girl is sexually assured that threats of punishment would silence them from shouting out.
The consequences of these sick acts are usually unwanted pregnancy sexually  transmitted diseases, psychological breakdown and the fear of man.
A category of people like poor parents, women with lazy husbands who do not provide for the family, widows, widowers, sick and disabled parents with able children feel they should not be blamed for sending their children hawking because they are helpless.
But there are other ways children can help mum and dad in the family other than hawking wares for them. No parent should use their conditions as an excuse to resort to sending their underage children out on the over dangerous street to hawk. Who really benefits from it?
In some homes the parents sit at home all day doing nothing and live on the profit from what their children have produced. Some guardians or step parents derive pleasure or make it a hubby to send children hawking, even when they can comfortably provide for their family.
It is the responsibility of every parent or guardian to protect and promote the education and welfare of their children and ward. They should not use their children for commercial activities no matters how poor they are.
This is because it exposes them to violence and other social ill such as accidents, kidnapping and rape.
Parents should be re-oriented towards accepting their responsibilities of taking care of their families when parents accept their responsibilities of taking care of their children, there would be no need for children to hawk.
Iragunima resides in Port Harcourt.

Benice Iragunima