Global Issues
May 2017 Children’s Day: Building A Safe And Prosperous Future Is Now
Bamidele Williams
I seize this medium to join the league of other prominent Nigerians, the Government and most especially our parents in wishing our children an Happy Children’s Day 2017.
I originally wrote this some twelve months ago under the title; We Are The Future But When Is The Future?. And published with various media house as a Global issue.
The Universal Children’s Day is not simply a day to celebrate children for who they are, but to bring awareness to children around the globe that have been succumbed to violence in forms of abuse, exploitation and discrimination.
Children are used as labourers in some countries, immersed in armed conflict, living on the streets, suffering by differences be it religion, minority issues, or disabilities.
Children feeling the effects of war can be displaced because of the armed conflict and/or suffer physical and psychological trauma.
The following violations according to the United Nation’s are described in the term “children and armed conflict”: recruitment and child soldiers, killing/maiming of children, abduction of children, attacks on schools/hospitals and not allowing humanitarian access to children.
Although the date chosen for the celebration of the day varies from country to country but in actual sense, shares the same motive.
May 10 is for Maldivian, May 17 for Norway,
June 1 for Albania, Angola, Armenia,
Benin, Bulgaria,
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
November 20 is for Arab West, Azerbaijan, Canada, Croatia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland and Israel.
December 25 is for Congo, Cameroon
Among others.
Nigerians today, May27, celebrate what we called our own Children’s day, in the face of overwhelming Child Abuse, child trafficking and the pertinent child abandonment that has become the order of the day in the country.
Hardly can you flip the pages of the Dailies without numerous headlines pointing and lamenting the sexual assault faced by the helpless Nigerian children from the so called elders and spiritual leaders.
Still in the mood of celebration, let me bring it to your notice that Nigeria has made history with half of world’s out-of-school children in Nigeria.
A report by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) on January 11, 2017 titled: “An overview of Out-of-School Children Syndrome in Nigeria, revealed that “13.2 million children are out of school in Nigeria,” representing between 52.5% and 60% (or more than half) of all the out-of-school children worldwide. Of the statistics with over 2.7 million children in need of protection, including more than 20,000 children separated from their parents or guardians.
To me, the prevalences of Child abuse and abandonment in Nigeria are caused by basically two factors;
i.) Inability of parents to adjust themselves to modernisation and traditional task of child rearing.
ii.) political and economic hardship in the country.
With all other factors coming under these basic two factors.
The government and the parents has always been heard and fond of telling us “We are the future” with little or no action and attention given to their politically and just-for-saying-sake inspired words. Just like the headlines put Governor Wike of Rivers state 2017 Children’s Day Message; ”
Children’s Day: Wike assures Rivers’ children of brighter future”
In a country of daily aggrandizement of political lies under the emblem of propaganda and daily plight of making life hard for the children of the common men with the promise of future but in futile, forgotten the words of Lilian Kantz that
”Each of us must come to care about everyone else’s children. We must recognize that the welfare of our children is intimately linked to the welfare of all other people’s children. After all, when one of our children needs life-saving surgery, someone else’s child will perform it. If one of our children is harmed by violence, someone else’s child will be responsible for the violent act. The good life for our own children can be secured only if a good life is also secured for all other people’s children”
And our ever increasing careerist parents with little or no attention for their children at the expense of their career;
They still said “We Are The Future”
They have forgotten the immortal words of Marrianne Williamson that said:
“There is no single effort more radical in its potential for saving the world than a transformation of the way we raise our children”
We live in the society that neglect children’s views, where children sleep and wake up without the hope of getting the basic needs of life. We are the future – the world they say but that is just words. We will live to become great but how can we when we cannot even think straight. We still live in the world of illusion not aware of what tomorrow holds.
Yet, they promise us the future.
All we need is a team work as Nigerian Children. As youths and children, we team up and confront to challenge frivolous and callous decisions from our leaders who trades with our future.
Am in.
Since I was a baby, they have all been singing “We Are The Leaders Of Tomorrow” ; same song my dad heard and is now in his quinquagenarian!
Who are the future?
The future is the present and incoming Nigerian children and youths.
When is the future?
The future is the next 5seconds you don’t know.
We are the future.
There is no future my fellow Nigerian children and youths.
People set the future and not knowing now is the future and now will soon be the past and yet again, the future.
Let me congratulate you for WE are the future of the future they have been saying.
Let’s take our position now. Let’s take our future.
HAPPY CHILDREN’S DAY 2017
Bamidele Williams
08134810254
27 May, 2017.
