The Holy Scriptures says: “Children are a gift from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward”. I want to admonish all the children of Kogi State not to think or believe their young age is a clog to their imagination or their ability to contribute in their little way to solving some of the pressing societal issues we are facing today. It might seem like your life is inundated with homework, schooling, daily household chores and having to gain the approval of demanding parents and teachers who never relent in correcting your errors. Children, you are passing through the formative phase of your life and any mistake on our parts as your parents would bring grave consequences on you and the society in general. Therefore, I implore you to respond positively to these training and take them in good faith. I want to challenge you to imbibe the spirit of resilience, courage, hardwork, self-discipline, honesty and kindness. These are some of the attributes lacking in your generation which has brought us to the crossroad we are today.
To parents and guardians, I want to appeal to us to lead exemplary lives. As the Holy Scriptures says: “Train up a child in the way he should go, so that when he is old he will not depart from it”. Every parent should strive to be the role model their children would want to emulate and not the celebrities and pop stars with questionable personalities that they watch on TV daily. Let us not forget that the numerous social vices and moral decadence the country and the world at large is facing today is largely due to the failure of proper parenting. This unwieldy situation is succinctly captured by the words of Frederick Douglas when he said: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men”. In line with the foregoing, it behoves parents and guardians to prioritize the spiritual and formal education of their children while also striving to fulfill the basic needs of providing quality education, comfortable housing, feeding and clothing. Although, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the modern-day-parent to meet all these aforementioned needs, we must endeavor to meet them as it is part of our God-given responsibility and also bear in mind that posterity will judge us if we fail.
In addition, I want to implore the Kogi State Government under the leadership of His Excellency, Alh. Yahaya Bello to reflect on the significance of this year’s Children’s’ Day. As Nelson Mandela put it that “Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world”, the financial implication of raising well-educated and well-rounded children today through the provision and maintenance of good schools, learning materials, training and retraining of teachers, payment of salaries and remuneration of deserving teachers is nothing compared to the cost of building prisons and correctional facilities in the near future. Since the foundations of economic and social development is predicated on the provision of quality education, modern health care and conducive living conditions, the current administration has an enormous task on its hand in bringing to fruition the gains of democracy we all aspire for ourselves and our children.
I want to appeal to the Federal Government of Nigeria and relevant authorities not to relent in their effort of making sure Leah Sharibu and other abducted Chibok and Dapchi girls are re-united with their parents. The saddening prevailing issues such as: violence against children, child trafficking, early and child marriages, child labour and molestation and a host of other heinous acts perpetrated against our children should be addressed with renewed vigour and alacrity. Also, I want to make a clarion call to our security agencies, civil society organizations, religious leaders, traditional leaders, human-right activists and the society at large to take their stand against these nefarious acts perpetrated against our children and bring to justice those behind these wicked acts.
Finally, I wish to commemorate with the Kogi State Children on this year’s Children’s’ Day celebration. Happy Children’s’ Day!
– Bolade Olumide Emmanuel
Coordinator, Kogi Fast & Prays
