Beyond The Pomp

At the Federal, States and local govenment  levels, series of events  were organised to mark this year’s  children’s day whihc took place last Monday. There were parades, Match past, dances, cutting of cake and of course the ritual speeches  from those in authority on efforts being made to give children a better life.  Both President Goodluck Jonathan and some governors hosted  them as part of their   state duties for the day.

Watching the colourful celebrations that took place in different parts of the country one could not help but wished  that attention on Nigerian children could go beyond  May 27. The annual event isd a worldwide UNICEF sanctioned ocassion to appreciate the needs  of Children and address  them.

Nigerian children sure do  have numerous needs that must be addressed sincerely, if the  future of this country must be assured.

The Nigerian child today faces  daunting challenges. Many children in the country suffer violence at home, in schools and in other setting where they should feel nurtured and safe. Many of them have become endangered in the  prevailing insecurity and social  problems facing  the nation. Many of them are victims of human  traffickig, kinapping  and ritual killing. A recent  study by the International  Labour Organisation (ILO) put the number of children Nigeria lost to trafficker at 4,000.

Apart  from these, the poor economic  situation  in the  country has forced  many children into forced labour, with their parents and guardians usuing them to raise money for the up keep of thier families. The result is that many children today are out of  school.

Just last Monday, during the children’s day celebration in Abuja, the UNICEF representative in the country, Ms Jean Gough, revealed that over 10 million children in Nigeria  were out  school. Is it not  shameful  that Nigeria should have such high number oif out of school children, despite Federal  and state governments claimed free  education programme under the frame work of universal Basic  Education (UBE) programme and the Almajiri education in the Northern part of the country?

Recently, some social analysts were asking  alarm via a radio station on the dwindling number of enrolment of children, particularly boys, in schools in the south East.

Many reasons were given for that including poverty, lack of employemnt for the educated, ignorance and  many more. In the views of the analysists, if the abundant natural resources in the nation should be adquately managed and used for the development of the  country, with a great per centage devoted  to youth and children’s development, Nigeria would be great.

Indeed, if the  issues  of corruption embezzlement  of public fund and insincerity of our leaders are squared addressed, will have hope for  a better future. It is not enough for the leaders and other stakeholders to make long speeches about they  love and care for the children but turn  around to syphone the money meant for childrensd’ programmes and projects.

The hardest of all the challenges  faced by Nigerian children today is that they live in a society where they have very few persons to look up to as their role  models. Psychologists have always  posited that children learn more from what they see than what they hear. So, it’s high time our leaders, parents  and other stake   holders live examplary life style from the  children to emulate.

Many  parents today have put the search for wealth above the education, care love and  attention that their children need, exposing them to all form  of social abuse. For some parents  only on special daysd like the children day do they spend quality time with their family. It should  go beyond that. As Ms Jean Gough said, “the problem is children cannot  wait. So we  have to intervene for them at the  appropriate time or we lose them”.

Efforts should therefore be made by parents, government and all concerned to focus more attention on our children. There should be competent managment of the country’s abundant  resources and geniune plan for the child’s future, backed by political will. Our leaders should  look beyond the  rituals  of speech making and engage  in serious, thought provoking politicies, with a view to making more time, energy and resources available  for the  fill-scale development of the Nigeria child.

Most importantly, in line with this year’sd theme: Let’s build a culture of peace  and security for the  Nigeria  child, measures  should  be taken to ensure  peace and adequate security in the life of children in Nigeria. Agencies responsible for combating  child trafficking, protitution, child labour and other forms  of child abuse  should wake up to their responsibilities.

Calista Ezeaku