UNICEF says lack of identification for street children was the biggest challenge in addressing the phenomenon of these children in Nigeria.

“It’s not about counting them, its about making them visible because there are many children who are on the street to trade, to survive and go home; there are many children who eat, live and survival on the street,” UNICEF’s country representative, Mr. Peter Hawkins said on a Radio Nigeria’s programme, ‘Street Children’.

He said many of the children who are ‘invisible’ are girls, “and they are in there on the street and they are extremely vulnerable because they are not visible but they are there” he explained.

He said the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNDP and the Office of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo are developing a methodology that would ensure proper identification of each street child and their peculiar circumstance.

Mr Hawkins expressed the importance of giving children, especially those on the street, a voice, by identifying their challenges and addressing them.

Children don’t have a vote, children don’t have voice and we are have to create that, we have to find different ways of ensuring that does takes place and if we don’t, we fail the fundamental issue,” he added.

Azizatu Sani

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