THE CHILD CARE SYSTEM UNDER THE CUSTOMARY LAW OF THE YORUBA PEOPLE IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Child care is universally perceived as germane to the continuity of any society, irrespective of its level of prosperity or cultural disposition. In Nigeria, the history of the legal system has given rise to conflicts in the co-existence of indigenous and received rules of child care. These conflicts have encouraged the prominent notion that customary rules militate against the advancement of evolving child’s right. Previous studies on these conflicts emphasized statutory and international norms on child care, with less focus on the indigenous customs and practices. This work was therefore designed to examine the nature, scope and institutions of Yoruba child care customs and practices, in order to clarify its actual status of convergence or divergence from statutory and international child’s right norms. The legal multiculturalism and caretaker theories guided the study. A qualitative method of analysis within indigenous Yoruba setting was adopted. The primary sources of law include the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Child’s Right Act 2003, Child Laws of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and Lagos, the African Charter on the Right and Welfare of the Child 2003, case laws on customary practices and relevant international treaties. These were complemented with secondary sources: books, journals, Internet materials and oral interviews. The research laid emphasis on the legislative capital cities of the six Southwestern States in Nigeria. Seventeen and Thirty-one sessions of unstructured in-depth interviews of Key informants, were held with customary courts administrators and other custodians of Yoruba customs and practices respectively. The national child care structure consists of inchoate interactions between varying judicial, legislative and institutional frameworks. Yoruba child care system is largely unwritten, flexible, philosophical and reliant on belief systems. Child care enforcement among Yoruba is reflective of the preference for Alternative Dispute Resolution. Despite international influences, statutes espouse indigenous ideals on same sex adoption, baby factories and abortion amongst others. However, statutes exhibit conceptual unfamiliarity with relevant Yoruba terms including, circumcision, child, discipline, education, medical care and maturity age. Customary law administrators are generally not aware of child specific enactments. The received composition is yet to assimilate other factors (“Omoluabi” “Ifa” and polygamy) that influence Yoruba process of childcare. Customary courts are prohibited from attending to issues from statutory matrimony, but they have jurisdictions over children whose parents are married under customs. The non-integration of customary courts into applicable Child’s Right Laws has created an unsatisfactory dichotomy between customary courts and other governmental institutions. Factors such as the guardian’s social status, religion, economic class, and idiosyncrasies influence the care of children with special needs. Despite its distinct definitions, methods and structures, the purpose of the Yoruba childcare system is compatible with the international benchmark. This customary system should withstand human right tests of validity, if objectively integrated into a progressive multicultural framework.