INTRODUCTION:

The influx of children on the streets of major cities in Nigeria has become a source of growing concern. This has been identified to have its root in the prevalence of abject poverty, the root cause of most social problems in developing countries around the world, including Nigeria.

In these countries, its effect on development is multifactorial, especially on human development and formation. Many families cannot cope with the responsibility of caring for their children and young ones as a result of the prevailing socio-economic challenges. 0 highlighted that family disintegration is a major cause of children living on the streets of Iwo Road, Ibadan. The lack of parental care has resulted in severe starvation of children, causing them to flee from home to fend for themselves on the streets.

The definition of street children according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are boys and girls under 18 for whom “the street” (including unoccupied dwellings and waste land) has become home and/or their source of habitation and livelihood and who are inadequately protected, supervised or protected for¹. The number of children and youth on the streets of Nigerian cities is increasing by the day. In 2007, the Nigeria Population Reference Bureau (PRB) estimated 15 million street children in the country². This calls for urgent attention to address the problem.

To this end, the 12th of April was set aside as a special day to acknowledge the strength and resilience of millions of street children around the world³. Organisations around the world recognise that there are millions of children in the world whose lives are inevitably attached to public places like streets, uncompleted buildings and markets. Many of them live on the streets, sleep in motor parks or bus stations. Others may have homes to go back to, but they rely on the streets for survival and sustenance. In the words of The Rt. Hon Sir John Major KG CH (patron of the International Day for Street Children), “When children are not cared for, we – governments and individuals – have all let them down. It is extraordinary that street children have been left so far behind for so long, extraordinary – and indefensible. It is as if they are invisible to the conscience of the world”³. They may be referred to as ‘street children’, ‘street-connected children’, ‘homeless children’ or ‘homeless youth’. Also, at times, they may be described in such negative terms as ‘beggars’, ‘juvenile delinquents’ and ‘thieves’. Labels that judge a child in this way disguise the fact that these vulnerable children are owed the care, protection, and above all, respect due to all children.

In 2021, UNICEF estimated that Nigeria had 10.5 million children who lived in the streets and other insecure areas^4.⁵ also highlighted that 9 out of every 10,000 adolescents in Edo State, Nigeria were street children, with a majority of them in Benin City. The term street children is alien to African culture and other developing countries around the world due to the closely-knit family units in these cultures, which protect children against life on the streets. The concept of street children is relatively new and its emergence in these cultures underpins how much their age-old cultural values have been eroded, with little or no data on its burden and the consequences on the lives of its victims. This study aimed to bridge these gaps in knowledge.

Globally, people are getting more conscious of the importance of dealing with the needs of vulnerable children. This study was particularly interested in children living on the streets of Benin City, where in the past, children had grown into young adults who terrorised the innocent citizens of the city and the state at large, a clear demonstration of a disorganised socioeconomic and collapsed political society. According to⁶, the existence of street children is not peculiar to Benin City. It is an international phenomenon of a psychosocial–educational challenge. They noted over time that it was not just enough to merely take street children into institutions or homes; it would be more appropriate and fruitful to know these children as individuals. Understanding their emotional and psychological function, beliefs, values and dreams could yield immense results from any legislation to improve their quality of life, as a better understanding of their survival needs might give them the chance to be included in decision-making processes that concern their future as useful members of society.⁷ also noted that the context of life experience on the streets is extremely personal. However, there is a paucity of research information on the diverse nature of these experiences directly from the way the children themselves perceive their situation and what they think could be done to help them. Many of them suffer due to constant exposure to vices such as drug abuse, violence, hunger and diseases with a high incidence of mental health challenges, such as addiction to weed smoking, cocaine sniffing, depression and aggression resulting from the circumstances of living on the streets.

Much of this has been attributed to, and is generally exacerbated by the lifestyle that they lead on the streets. Children living on the streets around the world tend to suffer from the consequences of their daily battle for survival on the street. Such a harsh environment affects all areas of functioning of children living on the streets. Furthermore, the self-esteem of children living on the streets is low, not only because of what they do but because of the treatment they receive from the public. They are seldom treated with respect or offered assistance, which tends to instil in them a negative vision of life and the future. ⁸ further noted that these experiences of stigma can cause children living on the streets to internalise the negative perceptions that members of the public have of them. They also tend to exhibit antisocial and self-destructive behaviour by joining gangs and engaging in crime. A typical example was the infamous armed robbery gang headed by Lawrence Anini, alias “The Law”, in the early 1980s. As reported by Tell magazine of 20^th April, 1986, the members of the gang, totalling 20 in number, confessed that they grew up in New Benin market where they lived as street children engaging in various menial jobs like bus conductors for survival. In their confession, they revealed that they formed the gang to resist incessant police harassment, intimidation and raids. They eventually turned against the police and the society at large and held the city and the entire then Bendel state under siege for 6 months until they were arrested in April, 1986. Anini “The Law” was indeed a name that sent shivers down the spines of all Bendelites at the time. More recently, another gang of juvenile armed robbers was arrested on Upper Sakponba Road, Benin City in March, 2023. Two brothers, aged 12 and 4 years were members. Surprisingly, the 4-year-old was caught with a gun, which he confessed to having used efficiently in three other operations he took part in before the arrest, under the tutelage of his 12-year-old brother. Against this backdrop, the researchers decided to explore the lived experiences of children living in these two areas of Benin metropolis (New Benin market and Upper Sakponba road). These are two densely populated areas of the City of Benin. Benin City, the capital of Edo state is a fast-growing urban centre and the gateway to many states in Nigeria. This makes it easy for urban drift for children running away from their discordant, abusive, dysfunctional and neglected home environments that they come from.

However, various studies^9,10,11 have confirmed that children living on the streets are indeed neither criminals nor deficient in character. Many are running away from their lives, which are rooted in multi-problem households rife with poverty, hunger, alcohol abuse, violence, family dissolution and breakdown of traditional supportive community structures. Additionally, the context of their intra-personal communication is so distorted that the behaviour of children living on the streets becomes less adaptive and more defensive, affecting their interpersonal skills and social roles. These children living on the streets see any removal from their street environment (being forced into homes or schools) as distressing, confusing or a disturbance of their identities.

Therefore, children living on the streets tend to develop networks of friendship with people who have similar lifestyles. The insecurity of their lives and their daily struggle to find food, work and shelter, avoid confrontation with law enforcement agents and the public, makes them dependent on other children living on the streets, which has another vast array of influences. As stated by⁵, most mentioned coping strategies were hanging out with friends and taking drugs or alcohol, which they described as a relaxing, social activity through which they could bond with friends on the streets to counteract feelings of hopelessness, loneliness and worthlessness. These friendships can then be recognised as important factors in the survival strategies of children living on the streets. Children are often the most affected by adverse circumstances due to their relative immaturity and lack of social power. The individual life courses of children living on the streets tend to follow the street life cycle. If they survive living on the streets, they are likely to become youths, young adults, veterans and seniors of the streets and institutes and the main exit from street life is death¹⁰.

These children face a lot of challenges living on the streets with frequent illnesses. Oftentimes they are attacked by thieves, ritualists or fellow street children, arrested by the Police, or involved in road traffic accidents. The effect of this daily abuse and hardship on the streets leads to poor mental health in the children. However, they have developed survival strategies that enable them to cope with the situation, some of which are ineffective and self-destructive coping strategies that impact their physical health and overall sense of well-being. Therefore,⁶ suggested that facilitation of the mental health of children living on the streets who are subjected to daily threats to their survival is crucial. The aim of this research was to explore the lived experiences of children living in New Benin market and Upper Sakponba road, two densely populated areas of Benin metropolis.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

A qualitative design was chosen for this study to explore how children living on the streets make sense of their lived experiences on the street, both as individuals and also their shared meanings with other children living on the streets. The population for this study consisted of children living on the streets in New Benin market and Upper Sakponba area in Benin City. A purposive sampling method was used as stipulated by ¹². Children living on the streets in these areas, who would most likely render information-rich data, were selected. The criteria for sampling were children who had lived on the streets for up to one year, were between the ages of 7 and 18 years of age and were able to communicate in English or pidgin. The initial selection of participants was purposive, later by snowball technique and qualitative sessions, having them recount their lived experience on the street. Two street shops or business owners were selected from each of the two areas using the purposive and snowball techniques. These participants served as parent/guardian figures of the children on the street and assisted in the selection of the children on the street. Ten children on the street were selected from each area, making a total of twenty children for the study. One of the inclusion criteria for selection was a child-on-the-street aged 7 – 18 years who had lived on the street for at least one year and consented to participate in the study, as children younger than this age bracket would not be able to give cognitive responses during the interview. In-depth interviews were conducted with the children after their assent and consent were obtained. Audio-taping of all the interviews was done. The open coding system was used to transcribe and analyse data with transcripts and field notes read and units of meaning identified, described and translated into themes which were supported by direct quotes from the children who participated in the study. An independent coder was used to analyse the data after a consensus discussion with the researcher. A literature review was done to verify the results as stipulated by ⁶.

To ensure validity and reliability of this research, Lincoln and Guba’s model of the four-dimension criteria of trustworthiness was used¹³. Techniques to achieve credibility included prolonged engagement in the field and varied field experiences. Transferability was achieved by dense description of results, description of sample realisation and purposive sampling. Techniques to achieve dependability included triangulation of data research methods, dense description of research methods and code–recode procedures on the data throughout the analysis phase of the study. Finally, confirmability was achieved with the use of reflexivity, an audit trail and triangulation to develop a comprehensive understanding of phenomena.

Ethical Considerations:

Ethical clearance (number 106/23/08/2023) was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of Benson Idahosa University. Ethical measures of autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence and justice were adhered to during the research process. The research process was explained to the street children and assured and they were told that their participation was voluntary and they could withdraw from the study at any time without bias. All participants were willing to participate after explaining the research method to them. No incentives were offered to the participants. However, food and pure water were available for all who participated. Anyone who needed psychological support after the interviews was debriefed accordingly. The interviews, which were taped with the permission of the participants were anonymous and confidential. The data were kept under lock and key in a cupboard in the researchers’ office and only the researchers had access to the data. The data will be destroyed two years after the publication of this research.

RESULTS:

There were five themes highlighted, which reflected the daily life experiences of the children as narrated by them.

Theme 1: Experiences of being a street child is a way of life.

Theme 2: Children living on the streets are exposed to all forms of risk and threat to life.

Theme 3: Children living on the streets manifest various emotional responses to their daily lived experiences.

Theme 4: Children living on the streets develop various coping strategies against the harsh environment.

Theme 5: Children living on the streets show resilience by striving for autonomy.

Below is a discussion of the themes with relevant supporting quotations from the interviews as expressed by the children.

Theme 1:

Being a street child is a way of life. It is the only reality with no alternative lifestyle in mind. These children choose the independence of having to make their own life decisions on the street rather than the neglect in their families of birth, whose negative factors contributed to them leaving home. Some of these factors are physical assault by caregivers who abused alcohol, bearing the blame for what they knew nothing about, poverty, abandonment and rejection by parents and other family members and becoming orphans. Although living in the street is characterised by a lack of education, many of the children in this study were literate and had dropped out of school. One child, a school dropout, expressed his autonomous and self-reliant life on the streets in this way:

‘I feel better living here in the street … because I can get food for myself… because I beg … then I can get money for food … it is better for me this way … It is better here in the street because I can make my own money from begging … and I can buy what I want for myself … food … I am happy to have my own money.’ (Participant 4, 9 years old).

Individually, they take responsibility and see their lives on the street as a better life than the neglect in their families. An illiterate participant said in pidgin English:

‘even say this place no too good for us, I still like am because my father, he like to drink too much … he like to go out for night … he used to leave us alone and he go and when he come back like that late… he go beat us like say na we cause am.’ (Participant 2, 12 years old)

They see formal school attendance as a waste of time as they are now used to acting older than their real age and do not want to be treated as children anymore. Another school dropout said:

‘when you go to school … they treat you like a small boy. Yes … I was staying with my father’s mother…but they treated me badly in school so I left … they treat us like small children. I am a big boy now’ (Participant 1, 11 years old)

Theme 2:

Street children often face physical and verbal abuse by older children living on the streets. They are generally assaulted by the public and threatened by the police. Older, bigger and more experienced children living on the streets often exert dominance over younger children.

Police harassment and assault is a serious hazard to these children. This highlights the powerless position in society of children living on the streets. In the words of one of the children:

‘Sometimes police dey come to arrest us and dem go say … hey you boys come here … dem go just carry us go station or somewhere like dat but you no fit trust them. Sometimes the police sef dey beat us and carry our money.’ (Participant 5, 12 years old)

Exploitation by criminally minded persons is common, as they offer the children money for sex and other criminal deals. One female participant explained thus:

‘Some people come to ask us how much we will take. When I say two thousand Naira … the other person will say … I don’t have two thousand, I only have one thousand or five hundred Naira. Then I will say ok … I do it because I need the money. I don’t play sex anymore. I used to cry because I feel pain.’ (Participant 3, 16 years old)

These children living on the streets also suffer from extreme weather conditions and are unable to maintain personal hygiene. The result of this is the onset of skin infections. Another participant said:

‘We sleep inside this shed here. Eh eh, that is the way we are living … sometimes it becomes very cold and mosquitoes bite us … and the other things … like small, small animals or big insects you see. They start to bite us because we don’t bathe ourselves, and the animals go inside our bodies … under the skin.’ (Participant 9, 15 years old)

These children also engage in street begging as a source of income, which they frequently supplement with stealing to obtain money, an indication that children living on the streets engage in criminal behaviour to support drug use, not necessarily for food. Drug addiction is an important factor in the euphoria of living on the streets and the choice of a better life. One participant said:

‘When they smoke weed (Indian hemp), they feel so good, as if they can do anything, … so they feel very brave. They feel they can do whatever they want. It can even be that they can kill people just like they see in cartoon films…. that is the reason why the four-year-old boy they caught here last time can carry gun and participate in rubbery operations in Upper Sakponba road just like that. Even his 12-year-old brother used to smoke here’ (Participant 6, 18 years old)

Theme 3:

Children living on the streets experience different emotions in their daily lives.

Feelings of negative emotions:

The population of children in this study experience a deep sense of sadness as they long for physical safety, motherly love and care and a sense of personal identity and self-worth as they suffer from dehumanisation, coercion and physical abuse by the police and other children living on the streets. Some are abandoned by their families and significant others. They sustain injuries from sexual exploitation and seek medical assistance for various diseases. These lead to feelings of despondency, fear, discomfort, misery and hopelessness in children living on the streets. Some of the participants collectively expressed their feelings thus:

‘I run away from them every time because I am scared. They want to take our money, so they are making us scared. We give them the money because we are afraid of them.’ (Participant 7, 10 years old)

‘Yes, we do not feel well. We feel very bad about the bullying. I feel very terrible. Sometimes they get angry for no reason and I feel bad. They also force me to smoke. I look for somewhere to hide all the time because I am afraid of them.’ (Participant 13, 15 years old)

‘They treat me like I am their slave. When they buy something, they want you to hold and pay for it with your own money and they don’t give you anything. Then they shout and chase you.’ (Participant 12, 16 years old)

Feelings of positive emotions :

The children who participated in this study showed a deep sense of care and concern for the predicament of other children living on the streets. They also experience sadness when they see other children being hurt. One of them said:

‘I run away when I see people is being hurt because I don’t want to see it. It makes me feel very bad and upset …’ (Participant 10, 12 years old)

Living on the streets makes them develop a sense of oneness and empathy towards the predicament of other children living on the streets. They feel committed to active involvement in helping other children as a way of surviving life on the streets. Another participant stated:

‘You must help these children from harming themselves, or they can kill themselves … they smoke weed.’ (Participant 8, 14 years old)

Feelings of suicide:

Some of them expressed feelings of suicide, a subtle way of wishing to die and escape from the difficult life on the street or reuniting with a family member. One of the participants said:

‘Sometimes, eh, I want to go back to my papa … but he sef done gone too far from me …’ (Participant 11, 16 years old)

This feeling of suicide may be as a result of abandonment, social isolation and lack of social support in the lives of these children living on the streets. Another participant said:

‘I wanted to die because I felt very, very lonely … the loneliness was very bad and I had nobody to help me’ (Participant 14, 17 years old)

Theme 4:

Children living on the streets develop various defence mechanisms against the harsh environment, which include sublimation, suppression and displacement ⁶.

Sublimation:

‘To express strong emotions or use energy by doing an activity, especially an activity that is considered a socially acceptable one.’ ⁶.

Life on the streets also helps to meet their primary needs for social interaction by belonging to a significant group. This association has the advantage of social networking with other children living on the streets, providing access to resources that address their primary needs for personal protection against the risk of physical assault. Another participant stated:

‘I dey stay with my friend wey old pass them. He be my very good friend. Dem dey fear am well, well o. If they try anything, I go just tell my friend … he go beat them. … he used to help me well, well.’ (Participant 15, 15 years old)

Suppression:

‘A conscious or semiconscious decision to actively push attention to uncomfortable thoughts, feelings or memories out of your consciousness.’ ⁶.

Dependence on drug use is a temporary euphoria for children living on the streets. They escape into a fantasy world where everything seems good and the yearning for meaningful relationships is suppressed. They have to be innovative to find ways of meeting their primary food needs as they are responsible for their survival:

Street begging is sometimes augmented with stealing to get money. Some go searching for food in refuse bins. Participants shared the following:

‘Some of us go to beg if they want food. Others go to pick pockets and others go to steal. They do all those things …even going to the dustbin, something like that.’ (Participant 18, 16 years old).

Some children use their money to buy drugs:

‘If you don’t smoke weed or take cocaine, you feel lonely … you feel like you are sick, you see. You feel cold even if the sun is high, you feel cold …real cold o.’ (Participant 19, 16 years old)

‘All of us who live on the streets go to beg or steal and come back to smoke … that is the only thing we do here …’ (Participant 16, 13 years old)

Displacement:

‘A defence mechanism where a person purposely and unconsciously transfers negative feelings from one person or object to another in a bid to solve a conflict. Also change in position from one habitual residence to another’ ⁶.

Frequent change of location for children living on the streets exposes them to potential harm, characterising their lives with frequent running away and hiding, either from their homes of origin, personal risks, dangers and threats on the street. A participant explained:

‘I run away whenever I see the police car coming with the sirens … because I am scared. When you are small, you get bullied by the big boys, so I still run away and hide from them. They will make you run errands for them, buy drugs and weed for them or from them by force. They also take your money from you.’ (Participant 7, 10 years old)

Theme 5:

Children living on the streets often display defiance and perseverance against the coercive power of other groups when striving to be free. This is an attempt to gain personal autonomy and perhaps also present a picture of a good child without criminal tendencies, even with the challenges of day-to-day survival. It also summarises the fact that some of the participants in this study were not forced to leave home; rather, they decided to leave on their own to the streets. This is a possible explanation for their assertive behaviour and sense of autonomy. They see life on the street as better than living in a discordant, abusive family.

These children living on the streets show a sense of determination to leave and escape from their discordant, abusive families. One participant said:

‘My mother’s new husband does not like me. He used to shout and yell at me. Then he will beat me and my mother will not defend me, so I left. My mother and her husband used to … come here to take me home. I will run away and he will beat me up again for running away. I feel happy here …yes, I am happy now … I am far away from home now.’ (Participant 3, 16 years old)

Children in this study knew that there were negative consequences for bad behaviour that could be avoided by doing good things. Refusal of a verbal sexual demand from an ‘agbero’, an older delinquent child on the streets, required courage due to the consequences. However, a participant in this study chose to part from a certain group of friends and their life of prostitution to start a meaningful life in a formal shelter in Edo Renaissance, a rehabilitation centre for young adults run by the state government. The child stated:

‘I do not smoke anything … no weed, no cigarettes. I always stayed away from the others. They were smoking … they also wanted to force me to smoke, but I said I do not want to smoke. I never smoked …and I don’t want to start now.’ (Participant 17, 16 years old)

‘I ran away from all those things to come here to Edo Renaissance to learn a trade because I want my life to change … I want to do something that’s going to make my life better for me. I am learning how to bake cake here’ (Participant 20, 15 years old)

DISCUSSION:

Support the finding that street children experience being on the street as a way of life⁶. They confirmed that children living on the streets are not deviants.⁵ and ⁰ highlighted that children living on the streets are indeed neither criminals nor deficient in character. Many of them are running away from their lives, which are rooted in multi-problem households rife with poverty, hunger, alcohol abuse, violence, family dissolution and breakdown of traditional supportive community structures. The study conducted by⁶ also highlighted another group of children living on the streets who still attended school and later dropped out of school due to a lack of parental guidance and the negative impact of street life on them. Many boys said they were influenced by the relative freedom and independence on the streets, which they valued very highly. According to⁵, developing street networks is not only for survival. Street networks also help the children learn the ropes and experience the benefits of friendship ties to become tough.

Children experience living on the streets expose them to risks and threats to life:

60% of children living on the streets reported frequent threats, particularly with weapons, physical, verbal and sexual abuse on the streets to get money, drugs and weed. Prostitution also exposed them to drug addiction, pimping and incessant arrest by the police and their eventual hopelessness. Addiction results in less money, as whatever money they make goes for drugs⁹.

Children living on the streets display different emotional responses to their daily lived experiences, including the experience of negative emotions and feelings of suicide. Research has shown that children living on the streets are more susceptible to psychological health challenges than any other group of children⁴. Other studies highlighted that psychological responses to abuse, like anxiety, fear, anger, denial, self-hypnosis, dissociation and self-mutilation are also common features^14;1. They learn early not to trust anyone and the belief that the world is a safe place is strongly doubted. The result is hopelessness and loss of faith. Additionally, the unstable life on the streets only worsens the child’s lack of trust and unhealthy sense of personal identity and overall twisted sense of self-confidence¹⁵.

A study conducted by¹² indicated that life on the streets causes a high level of stress from physical and sexual abuse, with the resultant psychological trauma for children living on the streets. Furthermore, they suffer from depression and feelings of suicide much more than children living comfortably at home with their parents. Other studies¹⁶^;¹⁷ also agreed that street children have severe emotional and behavioural challenges - suicide, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, withdrawal, hopelessness, inferiority and despondency.

Children living on the streets develop various coping mechanisms against the harsh environment, including sublimation, suppression and displacement. As highlighted by¹⁷, children living on the streets also develop strategies to avoid the police, such as hiding or staying out of town for some weeks. According to¹⁶, newcomers on the street attach themselves to other children who can help them. Early difficulties make these children get involved with more experienced children who offer them support and tips for survival.⁵ stated that in recent years, many health, welfare, social and religious organisations have responded by providing intervention strategies and programmes to address the basic needs of children living on the streets, as more attention has been drawn to their existence.

According to¹⁸, these children most commonly abused weed, cocaine and alcohol, and all had used one form or the other. Peers are always very helpful in supporting street children as their main source of socialisation. Therefore, peers are of great influence in teaching street children’s harmful habits like drug use, stealing, prostitution and other forms of immoral behaviour¹⁹. Illicit drug use creates the euphoria of escape from the harsh realities of street life as they see it as a way to remain emotionally strong on the streets, giving them a sense of belonging.

In the opinion of ²⁰, children living on the streets adapt to the difficulties and challenges of street life by trying hard to gain autonomy. Although they are often regarded as criminals by law enforcement authorities, migrating to the street may indicate personal resilience as the children think they have a chance to better their lives by leaving home prematurely²¹. According to²², children living on the streets find support and friendship amongst their peers. However, they look beyond what they can offer to one another. Running away from intolerable family circumstances can be seen as an extraordinary adaptive behaviour.

In this study, the researcher was able to reveal the realities and challenges of daily lives of children on the streets of Benin City, Nigeria that have not been explicitly written in literature. Additionally, different opinions were sought from many stakeholders along the way. However, one limitation of the study is the fact that data obtained was dependent on the self-report of the participants which may have been biased knowingly or unknowingly, or the children may have concealed vital information. However, the researcher tried hard to remove such bias. Another limitation is the obvious fact that the study was conducted using a limited number of participants from a section of the city of Benin which makes it impossible to generalise the findings. A single study is not enough to ascertain an in-depth understanding of what life is for children living on the streets.

Life on the street exposes children to many experiences that can distort their orientation and image of reality. Interactions with the general public, the authorities and other children living on the streets, range from positive to negative. These experiences lead to feelings of confusion, despair, helplessness and suicidal attempts in children living on the streets. It is clearly shown that children living on the streets make vigorous efforts in attaining independence as they manage to break free from abusive adults and the coercive powers of older children living on the streets. They exhibit acts of resistance and later, perseverance against these coercive powers of peer groups or law enforcement agents. This attitude is an indication of hope that they are determined to be survivors instead of victims of circumstances. Some of the children in this study make concerted effort to lead a morally upright life with the capacity to differentiate good from bad deeds. The potential to recognise the cause and effect criminal behaviour and its adverse consequences is clearly revealed. Processes of adaptation are a conscious effort and an obvious choice for children living on the streets as they try to create a personal identity that impacts their daily lives, which helps to strengthen them and enhance their survival strategies and resilience on the street. They are able to make a living from diverse opportunities they come across on the streets at various times, powered by their self-actualised sense of identity.

Edo state government, non-governmental organisations and public-spirited individuals should build homes and shelters for children living on the streets where health professionals can visit as teams so that the children can receive health and mental health promotion information as well as support from adults. The support from adults should be to assist children living on the street to manage stress and cope with their traumatic experiences of living on the street. The adults should also explore ways to encourage and motivate them, find out what they are good at and help them nurture their talents. These children can be taught other possible ways of becoming better than they are, rather than living on the street. Although the state government launched a programme to engage children living on the streets in meaningful ventures on the 29^th of June, 2022, much is yet to be seen of the programme in helping to take these children off the streets. The authors recommend that the Edo state government embark on public campaigns to sensitise the public against the negative perception of street children and establish homes and educational institutions to accommodate these children. The collaborative action of government, non-governmental organisations, public public-spirited individuals is needed to strengthen families and save these children from the streets by reuniting them with their families where possible. Further research is advocated to include more participants for better understanding on the subject of the day to day lived experiences of children on the streets.

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Received on 22.05.2025 Revised on 15.11.2025

Accepted on 07.02.2026 Published on 30.04.2026

Available online from May 02, 2026

Int. J. Nursing Education and Research. 2026;14(2):87-95.

DOI: 10.52711/2454-2660.2026.00018

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