Politics
HELEN Nduka, a lawyer and rights activist, has attributed the high rate of corruption and social vices in the country on poor family upbringing of today’s average Nigerian child.
Nduka made the remark in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Nsukka on Tuesday.
She, therefore, advised parents to lead examplary life and endeavour to instill integrity and morality in their children for a better society.
She said that corruption, banditry, armed robbery, rape and kidnapping pervading the country could be effectively tackled, when children imbibe sound moral values from home.
Nduka said: “A country is a collection of families and that’s why the type of child upbringing in families affect the character and development of a country.
“The family is the first school a child attends and whatever he or she learns forms the foundation of his or her life.
“Parents should be good examples to their children. When you tell your child not to tell lies, make sure you don’t tell lies yourself. That is the only way that child will respect you.”
She expressed concern that some parents had abandoned their responsibility of teaching their children good values that would make them succeed in life and become patriotic citizens because of the quest for material wealth.
“In some families, both father and mother leave the house as early as 6:00am only to come back late at night.
“Some children do not see their parents in the morning before they go to work and before they come back the children have gone to bed.
“Tell me when such parents will teach their children what is good and what is bad,” she said.
According to the activist, society is reaping the consequences of abandoning the care and upbringing of children to house-helps and nannies. “God knows that an abandoned child is a problem to society.
“That is why He instructed us in the scripture to ‘train the child in the way of the Lord and when he grows he will not depart from it’.
“To make Nigeria one of the best in the world, we must give our children quality training both in our families and schools since they are future leaders of the country,” Nduka said. (NAN)
– Dec. 10, 2019 @ 13:35 GMT
Tags: Activist tasks parents on good child upbringing for better society
