In Nigeria, as in other African countries, there is a deep belief in witchcraft
practice and this belief cuts across various ethnic groups and communities.
Victims of the unproven accusation of witchcraft practice are usually babies and children,
who inevitably, are grossly abused, psychologically devastated, and in many cases even get
lynched.
The fear of “child witches” is relatively new in Nigeria and awareness of the
phenomenon dates back to the 1990s following the emergence of churches whose “self
proclaimed ‘deliverance’ pastors combine traditional beliefs with evangelical preaching” (BBC
News, Thursday, 04 December, 2008).
This paper aims to analyse suspicion, trauma, hostility or fear and their legacies,
associated with “child witchcraft” accusations, assess the role or interventions of Government,
Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) and
Faith-Based Organisations in stemming the unproven accusations, and eliminating the abuse
on children.
Witchcraft is generally perceived to be “a spirit spell transferred to a person through food
and drink. The soul of the person who eats the spell will leave the body to be initiated in
a gathering of “witches” and “wizards”. This process is usually referred to as “meeting” or
“sailing” among some ethnic groups in Nigeria. “The initiated person possesses power to
wreak havoc, cause diseases …” (Stepping Stones, Nigeria, 2008).
In order to address the issue of suspicion, trauma, hostility or fear and their legacies as
regards ‘child witchcraft’ geared towards the elimination of the abuse on Nigerian children, a
well planned and packaged communication strategy aimed at achieving behavioural and
social change among community members, remains paramount. Communication for
Development (C4D) is vital in ensuring participation and understanding of communities in
issues which concern them. This enhances the realization of desired goals.
C4D involves evidence-based research studies (Knowledge, Attitude and Practice, KAP
Study or Baseline) that should be undertaken before developing a Communication Strategy
Access to Television, Radio (recently Community Radio), Social media, Internet and GSM
phones is high nationally. A multimedia approach is important in disseminating information
messages to change people’s attitude and belief.
Social media promotes information creation, sharing and exchange. Most organisations
now deploy social media in sharing information on diverse issues. My Ministry for instance,
has a website to which search engines direct internet traffic. The Minister commented that
the additional deploying of social media – Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc to engage the you
and the Diaspora was “much more justified and rewarding to communication efforts” during
the 2012 fuel subsidy crisis in Nigeria (Maku, L, 2013), and on the negative media report on
polio vaccine effects, resulting to “zero percent of new polio infections” in 1st Quarter, 2013
(Muhammad, Ado, 2013). Social media are being deployed in terrorism battle too. Videos
and photographs on NGOs’ websites exposed the “child witches” issue now attracting
Interventions.