Today’s Children Are Tomorrow’s Leaders -By Ahamefula Israel

May 27 annually is a day set aside to celebrate Children in Nigeria just as it is celebrated on different dates in several countries around the world to honour and recognize children globally.

It was first proclaimed by the World Conference for the Well-being of Children in 1925 and then established universally in 1954 to protect children and allow them have access to education. This was institutionalised to encourage all countries, firstly to promote mutual exchange and understanding among children and secondly to initiate action to benefit and promote the welfare of the world’s children. Since then, countries all over the world celebrate Children’s Day.

In Nigeria, one may wonders if there was so much for them to celebrate as Nigerian children. The prevailing state of the average Nigerian child raises some fundamental but multifaceted questions about not only his prolonged plight of huge deprivations but also of the collective failure by the home and the school to guarantee his rights as well as basic needs. The challenges confronting the Nigerian child become more disturbing when the inadequacies from which he suffers and their cumulative impacts on his intellectual and moral upbringing are put into context. Worse still, the Nigerian child today is himself part of the problem. Yet, ‘Today’s children,’ as the popular saying goes, ‘are tomorrow’s leaders.’

Children in any clime can only grow to their fullest potential when an enabling environment is provided. Children’s Day celebration presents a great opportunity to evaluate existing set plans on how to nurture, equip and impact the children physically and spiritually for a glorious life in future. Hence, when you nurture a child today, you are indirectly creating a better tomorrow.

Detailed attention should be paid to the nutritional and health care needs of the children. The quality of their education should not be compromised, while the educational materials these children are exposed to during their formative age should be closely monitored.

Their spending and savings culture are best cultivated at this stage through specially designed savings accounts in banks.

The schools they attend should be properly scrutinized and all products and services to which they are exposed must be of utmost quality to fully equip their physical and psychological well-being.
Beyond the funfair that characterizes the celebration of this event, 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 succumbed to violence in forms of abuse, exploitation and discrimination. It is a day to think about our homes, and rewrite our wrongs in our family affairs. It is a day to understand that the feature of our children lies in our hand. Therefore, let us rise today to save our feature because Today’s children are Tomorrow’s leaders

Ahamefula Israel, a Senior Advocate of Nigerian Students writes from Uturu. E-mail:anyameleisrael@gmail.com.