By Yinka Adeosun
Children Day, first proclaimed by the World Conference for the
Wellbeing of Children in 1925 and then established universally in 1954, is
celebrated each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among
children worldwide, and improving children’s welfare. International Children’s
Day has also been set aside by the United Nations to celebrate and honour
children across the world every May 27. (Today is one of such remarkable days).
It is recognised and celebrated on various days in many countries around the
world. The day was created as part of efforts of the UN to protect children
from dangerous situations in the society and as well to give every child the
opportunity to acquire formal education. Significantly, it was set aside to
highlight the dignity of children and their need for love, care and respect,
and to also instill in them a sense of patriotism and national pride.
(Regrettably),
the Nigerian child is an endangered species. She or he usually bears the impact
of poverty, family problems, peer pressure, failed educational system, social
and religious conflicts as well as violence and terrorism. At an early age,
some children are given in marriage, thereby exposing them to sexually
transmitted diseases and infections, many have been conscripted into foot
soldiers, are victims of sexual slavery and all sorts of emotional torture.
Child
abuse, child trafficking, child battery and exploitation are common realities
in our society. It is sad that despite the information age, some cultures and
practices in our country still make children vulnerable, disadvantaged and
prone to abuse. Under-aged marriage is the norm in the North and child labour
is not peculiar to the South alone.
Many
of our children grow with bitterness for their country. Having watched the
insincerity of the government to the plight of the child in comparison to the
news of child bravery in other climes, many would prefer to stay away and
fulfill their potentials in a clime that encourages them to do so. The tale of
the Chibok girls, the kidnap of students of Barbington Macaulay Junior Seminary
in Lagos
It
is often said that children are the leaders of tomorrow. But in Nigeria Nigeria
Beyond
the promises and parades that characterise marking the children’s day, federal
and state governments would have to prove that truly these children are the
leaders of tomorrow. Since 2003 when the FEDERAL Government adopted the Child
Rights Acts to domesticate the Convention on the Rights of the Child, only
about 24 of the 36 states of the federation have passed the Act. The other
states have either disregarded it or paid lip service to the rights and
responsibilities of the child in Nigeria
The
Nigerian government has in the past committed blunders where it concerns her
citizens, especially children. It is not too late for the government to begin
to show empathy and commitment to things that will make these children have a
sense of belonging in the Nigerian dream and delight in the thought of being a
Nigerian.
Access
to affordable qualitative education for children must not be compromised.
Budgetary allocation to education and primary health care must be improved and
well utilised for the purpose. Parents and teachers have the primary duty to
train and enlighten children on what is right and what is wrong, how they can
take care of themselves, how to protect themselves from violent persons and
scenes, the need to avoid bad companies, influences and social vices among
others.
Childhood
is the foundation stage of the future. To this end, children deserve relevant
and necessary attention. A child not well trained will sell-off the house that
is built at the expense of child training. If Nigeria
*Adeosun,
a communications specialist, writes from Ondo, Ondo State
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