From: wsargeant@IGC.ORG (Winslow L. Sargeant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:Nigeria, children most affected by'
Date: 9 Apr 92 18:52:06 GMT

/* Written 10:03 am  Apr  9, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "NIGERIA: CHILDREN MOST AFFECTED BY " ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Reference: Africa, west
Title: NIGERIA: CHILDREN MOST AFFECTED BY STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT


an inter press service feature

by toye olori

lagos, apr 6 (ips) -- gaily dressed children, singing and
dancing are usually a common sight at the yearly muslim festival
of eid-el-fitri (end of fast).

but this year, as muslims celebrated the festival friday,
most children who accompanied their parents to the praying
grounds in this city of about five million were dressed in old
clothes, some of which have been worn for the last three years.

''how can i think of new clothes for the children when we can
hardly afford two meals a day.'' asks 40-year-old civil servant
suleiman adesina.

''i cannot afford to buy new clothes for my children every
festival period as i used to do before the structural adjustment
programme (sap) when prices went up,'' malamu subairu told ips
at obalende praying ground.

''now i think of the high cost of books, food and hospital
bills before anything else,'' adds subairu who has two wives and
seven children, aged between three and 16.

suibairu's and adesina's cases exemplify the many problems
nigerian families face since their government introduced the sap
in 1985, and the subsequent devaluation of the nigerian
currency, the naira.

the dollar which before the sap exchanged for about one naira
now exchanges for 18.6 naira at the official market.

by far children are the greatest casualties of the sap.

apart from the social effects of sap on children, good health
has continued to elude most children, whose parents cannot
afford the ever-escalating prices of baby foods, drugs and
hospital bills.

popular brands of baby food here now cost as much as 120
naira (about 6.6 dollars) a tin compared with 35 naira a year
ago and less than 10 naira before the sap.

multivitamin syrups and teething powders are sold for 100
naira (about 5.4 dollars) compared to 40 naira (about five
dollars at 1990/91 exchange rate) a year ago. (more/ips)


nigeria: children (2)

''i do not know where this nation is heading when even
babies are left to the mercy of sap,'' said one mother, who
burst into tears upon learning that a tin of baby milk she had
bought earlier in the week had suddenly gone up from 80 to 120
naira.

director of best hope hospital here, frederick fasehun,
explains that children are becoming more susceptible to
infections as they are being fed adult food at an early age
because of the prohibitive cost of baby food, drugs and feeding
generally.

fasehun says if it had not been for the expanded immunisation
and oral rehydration therapy in the country, cases of infant
mortality in africa's most populous nation would have doubled
since the introduction of sap.

''even then, cases of malnutrition have increased by over 50
percent,'' adds fasehun, who is one of the presidential
candidates for the dec. 5 elections.

world fertility survey (wfs) statistics put nigeria's infant
mortality rate at 86-87 per 1,000 live births in urban centres
and 130 per 1,000 in the rural areas.

this high infant moratality rate is attributed to
socio-economic factors, poor nutritinal status, insufficient
health knowledge among mothers and limited access to maternal
and child health services.

''if present child mortality levels continue, some 150
children will die during the 1990s before they reach their fifth
birthday,'' says nigeria's health minister olikoye ransome-kuti.

''many times that number will not develop normally in mind or
body because of frequent ill-health, persistent malnutrition,
lack of basic community services, lack of early stimulation,
illiteracy and lack of basic learning skills,'', he adds.
(end/ips/to/apc/tvh/ar/92)