We Hold Your Brief

Dear Counsel, After just two years of marriage, my wife and I separated pending our final divorce. Due to irreconcilable differences, she left with our only child. She has been with her parents in Kogi State, for the past three years. I have never stopped sending her money, for my son’s upkeep.

However, I insisted on seeing my son last week, and after much resistance, she finally agreed for me to come. To my utter dismay, I found that my son is malnourished, and now has some very ugly tribal marks on his cheeks. I could barely recognise him, and in anger, I flared up. Without the slightest remorse, my wife made me understand that, it was her father who insisted that my son must have those incisions, because we are from different tribes.

I returned to Lagos in anger, but my friends advised that I should report the matter to the Police. That it is a criminal offence, for which I could be held responsible in future.

Kindly, advice. A.B., Ajah, Lagos.

Dear A.B., It is indeed, a criminal offence to tattoo or put any facial marks on any child in Nigeria.

The Child’s Rights Act, 2003 which most States have domesticated in Nigeria, specifically provides at Section 24 that: ‘Tattoos and skin marks (1) No person shall tattoo

or make a skin mark or cause any tattoo or skin mark to be made on a child. (2) A person who tattoos or makes a skin mark on a child commits an offence under this Act and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five thousand Naira or imprisonment for a term not exceeding one month or to both such fine and imprisonment.’

The advice that you report the case to the Police, is therefore, apt. It will help to exonerate you of this offence, in future.