The Holy scriptures says: “Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a real blessing”. I heartily greet and felicitate with all Nigerian children on the occasion of this year’s Children’s Day celebration.
I want to admonish all the Nigerian children 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.
Undoubtedly, children are a very integral part of our society and the leaders of tomorrow who must be well catered for. 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 any 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 trainings 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 unwielded 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 patronize the spiritual and formal education of their children while also striving to fulfil 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 those aforementioned needs, we must endeavour to meet them as it is part of our God-given responsibilities and also bear in mind that posterity will judge us if we fail.
Furthermore, let me use this medium to appeal to parents and guardians to encourage the girl child education, especially as her education reduces infant and maternal mortality and prevents early and child marriages. It also increases literacy and reduce poverty. The saying that to educate the nation is very apt in this regard.
I want to implore the Federal Government Of Nigeria under the leadership of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari to call on the security agencies to increase their efforts in protecting children from danger and violence inline with the provision of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria and Child Rights Act, 2003.
I, again, call on all schools management committees at all levels of public and private institutions to take adequate security measures and put in place mechanisms for safety of children from abuse, exploitation and trafficking as well as provide safe, non-violent inclusive and effective learning environment in our schools.
I commend the commitment of the Federal Government of Nigeria towards the welfare of our children as regards the National Home-Grown Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) in our primary schools across many states in the country. I am very much aware that there is a direct relationship between well-fed pupils and the capacity and interest to learn. This laudable programme has help in reducing the numbers of primary school dropouts as well as improving child nutrition and health.
Finally, I wish to commemorate with all Nigerian children on this year’s Children’s Day Celebration.
Happy Children’s Day !
– Bolade Olumide Emmanuel, a public affairs analyst, is the founder, Kogi Prays and Fast Network
E-mail:boladeolumide@gmail.com
