The Legacy of a Nigerian Child: A Wake-up Call on Nigerian Governments | Idris Ismail
PanNigerianNews
5 min read
By Idris Ismail
Children are gifts of nature and the hope of future. There are training and the type of care portend the kind of growth into adulthood we envisaged.
Every nation that desires a robust future plays premium in the care of their own young ones. They prioritize their education, their manner, their health care and their nutrition. The society and government formulate policies for them to pick the best of manner, best of education and the health facilities.
The quality of each of the above provisions determines the kind of adulthood they grow into. The quality of health services give us healthy adulthood. The quality of education produces well enlightened adulthood of the children. The curriculum is constantly reviewed to ensure that the kids they are producing are kids that will be relevant for the future their preparing for.
The quality of socialisation and constructive family and community parenting produced a well mannered adults in the children. They are interested in how each parent treats the kids on behalf of the government.
The government considers all the children in the nation as belonging to them as a trust; so, each parent is like a trustee on behalf of the government which considers their treatment as the parent’s responsibility. The law is, therefore, interested in how each parent treats the children in their custody. So, there should not be an abuse.
The developed society makes intentional provisions for children and they do not make their education, training, healthcare, and general development auto pilot. They consciously make the school attractive appealing, home and welcoming. They are deliberate about the training and motivation of the teachers, caregivers and school administrators because they know the future and trust of the nation is in their custody.
I, therefore, call on Nigeria government, federal, state and especially local governments to kindly make our public schools inviting, appealing and homely. Honestly, some primary schools are not good for goats that is cared for.
There in the developed world, they make provisions for social activities and recreation of the kids because of the importance in the healthy growth of the children. So, they have recreation centres, parks and sports arena for children of all categories. I charge Nigerian governments to make intentional policy to create parks and sports arenas in the entire 774 Local government areas. The children need to run around and develop wholesomely through sports.
The nation which cares for the future makes conscious provisions for the special health care services of the children they desire grow for into healthy adulthood. The policy and the budget provided for construction of pediatric hospitals for special care of the children and the training of the specialist that would care for the little souls.
I also call on all levels of government to please established pediatric hospitals in each of the 774 local government areas in Nigeria. The healthy living of the Nigerian children should be sacrosanct and not negotiable
The nation that desires to produce intellectual giants instil reading culture for the purpose of producing leaders that will consciously situate children libraries within the neighborhood. I have seen children libraries in various parts of the world on the social media and on YouTube; they are fantastic, appealing and capable of invoking independent learning and research in children. I am passionately pleading that all tiers of government that coincidentally have say in education, because it belongs to concurrent list, should establish children libraries in each of the 774 local governments areas, including some neighborhoods in Nigeria.
The healthy growth of the children is corollary to the kind of consumption in term of feeding. Nations which play premium on the children as paramount leaders of tomorrow are very serious about their nutrition. I want to encourage the parents/guardians and the government at various levels to be conscious of the nutrition of this children. At home level, the parents should balance their diet while I encourage all the tiers of government in Nigeria to please sincerely firm up the school feeding programmes so that at least we can be sure that they have taken something balance at schools as monitored by the governments.
A serious nation which desires a better growth for the children that are going to stand tall in the future protects the sanity of the children. They are careful and conscious of the kind of books they read, kind of music they listen to and the kind of information they are exposed to. There are censor boards that are functioning like security outfits with eagle eyes sieving and sorting out whatever is toxic and injurious in books, music and movies that the children are going to be exposed to.
I want to specially appeal to the government of the day to take a serious look into the boards in charge of movies and musics especially and the National library to ensure we do not allow unfettered access to convey dirty contents in term of lyrics, movies and books to our children.
Honestly, as we speak the National Censor Board that are in charge of music and movies have failed this nation and the consequence is very glaring on the youngsters we meet on the streets and classes. They have allowed this youngsters to take mentors in musical stars and movie actors and actresses who are currently destroying the moral fabrics of the young people in our society.
It is important to round up this discourse by calling our attention to need for reinventing parenting. The rat race of both parents looking for money to raise their children making them absentee parents. This is already having a very negative consequence on the children whose training is now outsourced. Parents are not available to monitor and attend to the manner and growth their children.
In the years before now, while we were growing up, we would come back from school to meet our mothers at home and they would take all notes of whatever new development observed in us. We would account for any mark on our body; we would account for any property in your possession not bought for us; we would account for extra time we spend before coming home against the usual time. We would account for the questionable personality we call our friends. There is always interrogation waiting for you. This was the process that formed us.
Nobody is available again to interrogate the development, the movements, the growth and the manners of this children. The rat race does not allow it. Unfortunately, most did not have the kind of money they envisaged in the rat race leading to regret and as we speak they have not succeeded in the parenting, amounting to double jeopardy. Those who got the money are regretting not have given enough attention to their children whose manners are now battered may be beyond repair despite huge wealth available.
I congratulate the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, on the first Children Day celebration in office. I pray Nigerian children will be better off under his administration.
I celebrate all wonderful Nigerian children today and ever. I was once like them rolling tyres from Ogbowankwo to Twin-karim on the streets of Ajegunle, Lagos State.
….Alh Idris Ismail, a youth, children, education, culture and governance consultant, works at Federal Polytechnic
Ayede, Ogbomoso, Oyo State.
