By Sodiq Ojuroungbe

Before his journey to the Abeokuta Borstal home, 17-year old Tony has carried out many robbery attacks undetected. But nemesis caught up with on Monday, 23rd of May, 2016 when he was arrested by the Nigeria Police force alongside his members after being part of a syndicate that went to rob an apartment in Gbokoniyi area of Abeokuta in Ogun state.

Tony was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of robbery. Since then, he has spent his life within the four walls of the Abeokuta Borstal home. At first, a remorseful Tony thought the home will avail him another chance at living a positive life but the reality turned out opposite.

Tony, who now has served three years, expressed sadness over the ill-treatment he received from the home and how he has given up about life in totality.

“I have given up about life; I was sentenced to five years in prison for robbery. In the next one year I will clock 18 and that means I will be transferred to the real prison. I am already ready for the life I will live in the real prison because where I am is nothing different from the real prison.

“I can even say our experience here is worse compare to those in the prison; they don’t feed us the way they supposed to. They don’t train us regularly, except on occasional basis; many of us do not have anything we have learnt since we are here than the fact that we were put under surveillance where nobody can come to.”

Tony’s life was not like this at the beginning. The child was born into a family of five and he happens to be the second child of the family. While his father engage in driving, his mother was a trader at Lafenwa markert. But, life became unbearable for Tony at the age of 12 when he lost his mother to a short illness. The father who has to work extra time just to meet ends meet could not look after young Tony and before a twinkle of an eye, Tony has taken solace in the street and started looking for how to survive in it.

“Because I always need someone to talk, I mingle with bad boys that taught me how to rob, smoke and drink. If I have had the opportunities of growing up in a better society, maybe I will not become like this,” he said.

Like Tony, 16-year old Tunde who was born and brought up in one of the most dangerous environment in Abeokuta popularly called Ago-Ika. Because of lack of parental care and the influence of bad guys who dominated the environment Tunde lives, he became a member of Eiye Confraternity at the of 14. He was arrested when his cult group killed a rival cult member in 2018.

Tunde is a product of a broken home as his parents also cut his cod of care and attention at early age and he also see the boys on the street as the true family that will always be there to listen to his pains.

”Before I clocked 14, I have started smoking Indian hemp and mixing with some of these bad guys and before I know what is happening, I have been initiated into Eiye Confraternity.

“As a boy that needs to survive in the new cult group that I just joined, I started engaging in robbery and hooligalism. It was when myself and my other cult member went to drop (kill) a rival cult in Itoko that we were arrested with guns and I was found guilty which made me end up in the place.”

Even though he has no relative to look after him outside the walls of the Borstal home, he sees no hope in what the institution has to offer.

“We go through daily pains here and surviving in this environment for the past one year has become a thing that we don’t have any other choice. They don’t feed us well, they just abandoned us, and we are only useful during times that they discover that some people are coming to visit us.

“Our life here is nothing different, there is no rehabilitation whatsoever, they see us as condemn that cannot be useful in the future.”

The stories of Tony and Tunde are not isolated; they reflect the experience teenagers at the Abeokuta Borstal home. Not every of the kids in the juvenile home have the opportunity of people checking on them. Some of them have been abandoned because they are regarded as criminals at such tender age and many of them have not been able to know peace even when they are put under a surveillance and tight security so that they don’t escape.

Because of the hardship and pains many of the juveniles pass through in the home, some of them have tried escaping the facility more than once. While some of the attempts were successful, many of it was not successful as the officials in the home usually caught them. This shows how uncomfortable and unbearable the home has been to many of the kids.

Read full story @@@@https://www.sagagist.com.ng/2019/08/the-pains-hopelessness-of-nigerian.html

Be prayerful
Stat outta trouble
Train your children to stay outta trouble
Spare the rod and spoil the child
Government wey never sort the free folks na im go remember una for prison or correction centre

one sided story

If not only PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI that GOD in his infinite mercy sent to redeemed this country, has any thing work our well in this nation called Nigeria?

48noble:
one sided story

What's the other side oo?