Women
By Anthony Isibor
MORE than 200 students from 11 schools participated in the 2023 Boy Child Campaign tagged ‘Re-engineering Boys to Value’ held recently in Abuja.
The event, which was organised by the Women Community in Africa, WCA – The Advocacy arm of the Beyond Mentors Community Care Initiative, BMCCI, with a focus on amplifying the significance of re-grooming and rewiring boys to Value and self-sufficiency for them to take ownership of the sustainable development of their communities, the values of working hard and techniques of making their valid contributions to society.
Speaking at the summit, Muhammad Nami, the keynote speaker and the out-going Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, expressed concerns on the decline of moral values, including honesty, respect, and compassion as he stressed urgent need to address this unpleasant reality.
Nami also emphasized the importance of instilling proper character and values in young people, boys and girls, which the family ought to lead.
He also identified the gaps in child upbringing, which include the neglect of character and values specifically within the family circle, insufficient care and training which the children do not receive, and lack of proper knowledge; all of which according to him, have resulted in social imbalances.
According to him, some solutions to these ugly realities include:
Provision of Safe Spaces for Boys to speak and share how they feel, starting in their homes, to help them express their experiences and emotions; law enforcement agencies must also take boy Children abuse as a significant problem with appropriate actions taken to address it, just as they would with other criminalities and Boy Child Mentorship by older men to provide guidance, positive examples of character and moral uprightness, support as fathers, brothers, uncles, and older male friends respectively.
Similarly, Anthony Okechukwu Ojukwu, SAN, Executive Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, highlighted some mistakes which parents make in training the boy child.
According to him, parents in most cases feel disturbed and concern about the whereabouts of their female children while they nurse the impression that the boy child could easily find solutions for himself to all kinds of problems he encountered. He clarified that this attitude by the parents in most family circles, is inhuman and constitute an act of child abuse as well.
Also, His Excellency Humphrey Geiseb High Commissioner of Namibia to Nigeria, in his speech said that equality is not gender-based.
“Every human is equal to one another whether male or female.”
He said that in recognition of this reality, women in Africa are now seen to be taking their rightful seats anywhere they find themselves today. The Diplomat said as far he was concerned, the future is female, particularly in Namibia and expressed optimism that Nigeria will not be different.
On her own part, Maureen Chiana, a renowned Neuroleader from the UK, demonstrated her points with a brain model for the children to see while Samuel J. Palmer, CEO of Palmevero Global Inc., who was also a special Guest speaker for the event from Texas, inspired the children with his life story on the values of character and how that can define their success in their life’s journey.
Palmer further stated that there couldn’t be better time than now, to sharpen the mindsets of the children and the society at large, because the world is already the world of next generation and any gender has the capacity to make our world a better place.
For Walufu Evans, Executive Director of Casey Foundation Uganda, the perception that child abuse only affects the girls was wrong.
He stated that the reason why abuse of the boy child is not known is because it’s hardly reported nor given attention for solutions.
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