Opinion: Another Boy with no Shoes.

 Photo Credit: Google

When I sat down close to him I knew he was just boy, just like many others I have seen en-route my journey home.
When I got into the car, I could tell he was looking at me and I turned to stare at him but he was looking downwards timidly.  As is typical of me,  I like to poke nose into matters wey no concern me.
So I thought of engaging him, I asked him for the wrestling cds he was holding so I could look at the cover pack. I began to ask him the names of the wrestlers on the cover page, he answered them accurately. Well, I can't remember all the names but he mentioned a "Hawk or Shawn", I suppose. After the wrestling friendliness, I asked him my first question.
Do you prefer what you are doing? I asked, he ignored me stared downwards and I asked my question again, Do you prefer what you are doing?
No, he answered.
I asked him a second question, who do you stay with here in Lagos? 
My Uncle, He said.

 I could see the pain in his face as his fair skin turned red in colour, he couldn't look at me so that I don't see that which is in his eyes. We took the questions bit by bit in my local dialect(Igbo) his English was very poor.
The boy was barely 14years old and seemed very acquainted with Lagos which means he has been around for a year or more.

I asked him about his parents and where they are, he said the village. I cant remember the place now but it is somewhere in Anambra state.
My last question to him was, What was the last class he was in before he came to Lagos? and he answered primary 5.
Then I shook my head, I didn't say anything to him till he came down and I said goodbye.

Some of you are wondering what he does, in Igbo there is something we call "Igba boy" meaning to serve someone for a period of time or learn a trade after which they start you up in a business of your own.
He is another young boy serving his uncle so he can make money in the future for his family. I have little or no problem with "Igba Boy" but I have a problem with sending a boy who is barely a teenager to start that at a young age.
One of the things I wondered is why the uncle didn't send him to school when he brought him to Lagos instead of Creating the Cyclical illiteracy synonymous with families.

Nigerian Children are still no 1 on the list of those out of school. Many of them young and with no shoes.
One of the very memory I will always remember is when I was in a mini bus in traffic. And a young boy barely 10 years old, he was actually tiny like a 5 year old, he wore only pants and had no shoes on. He stood by the boss and said to the driver "Oga, I wan work"?  The driver smiled and said "I no get work  to give you" and the little boy walked away moving from one bus to the other to plea for a job.

These are stories of the boys I have met, what about the young girls, who are victims of violence and rape. Every child deserves a chance to  in school, to be educated. Should I blame the system that has made admission into Federal government colleges to rise to about a 100 thousand naira, well there are public or should I blame the parents who didn't work hard enough to see their children through school?
Whatever be the case let those of us who are able raise an educated generation, not creating cyclical illiteracy in our society.