17062019 - Parents now afraid to send children to school — UNICEF

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 17, 2019—5
POCKET CARTOON
FATHERS's DAY—From right: The SGF, Mr. Boss Mustapher; the Deputy
Senate President; Senator Ovie Omo-Agege; Vice President Yemi Osiinbajo
and a cross section of fathers singing a hymn during the church service to
mark the Fathers' Day celebration at the State House, Chapel, Abuja, yesterday.
Photo: Abayomi Adeshida.
Parents now afraid to send
children to school — UNICEF
By Dapo Akinrefon,
Johnbosco
Agbakwuru, Peter
Duru & Monsuru
Olowoopejo
LAGOS — The
United Nations
Children’s Fund,
UNICEF, weekend
lamented that parents are
now terrified to send their
children to school due to
insecurity in the country,
especially girls, who have
been victims of
kidnapping while at
school.
This came on a day the
Aare Ona Kakanfo in
Council vowed to deal
with marauding
herdsmen terrorizing the
South-West, just as
Governor Babajide
Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State
said he would disclose a
new security policy to
stem the increasing rate
of kidnapping in the state.
Still on the issue, the
Presidency in a statement
last night said that
President Myhammadu
Buhari and governors of
states in the North-west
Zone were working out
strategic plan to end
insurgency in the zone
and the Northern region.
U N I C E F
Communication
Specialist, Mr. Geoffrey
Njoku, in a statement on
behalf of Mr. Peter
Kawkins, UNICEF
Representative in Nigeria
to mark this year’s Day of
the African Child themed:
Child Rights in all
Situations, Including
During Humanitarian
Crises, said parents are
now so scared to send
their children to school
due to the high level
insecurity in the country.
He said in
commemorating the day
“about 2,000 youths
across 10 Nigerian states,
including Abuja,
presented petitions to
their governors,
parliamentarians, policymakers
and other
influential persons in a
mass effort to draw
attention to the need to act
on commitments to
increasing access to safe,
quality education for all
children, especially girls.
“The Nigerian
campaign for access to
quality education will
hold the newly-elected
government officials at all
levels accountable for
their campaign promises
to provide equitable
access to free, safe and
quality education for
every child, especially the
girl child, in Nigeria.
“The 10 states where the
mass actions are taking
place — Bauchi, Niger,
Katsina, Kano, Sokoto,
Zamfara, Kebbi, Gombe,
Adamawa, Taraba and the
FCT — have about eight
million children not in
school and an average
enrollment rate of only 57
per cent.
“Schools should be a
safe place for children,
one in which they can get
quality education that
will put them on the path
to a secured future.”
‘We’ll deal with
marauding
herdsmen’
Also concerned about
the worrying rate of
insecurity in the country,
the Aare Ona Kakanfo in
Council, yesterday, vowed
to deal with marauding
herdsmen terrorizing the
South West saying “we
cannot continue to fold our
arms and let these bandits
continue to soil our land
with the blood of the
innocent.”
They raised the alarm
that the Yoruba race is at
the risk of being haunted
and slaughtered by “this
reckless group if we keep
sugarcoating the bloody
implications of their evil
enterprise.”
This was the outcome of
the council’s
extraordinary session
chaired by Aare Gani
Adams in Lagos.
In a statement titled:
Our stance on the Fulani
herdsmen scourge in
Yoruba land, he called on
traditional rulers and local
chiefs in the region to
show more than passing
interest in the activities of
people in their domains.
The statement was
signed by Aare
Onakakanfo of
Yorubaland, Aare Gani
Adams; Mr. Wale Abel
(Balogun Aare), Hon.
Taofeek
Isa
(Baaregunwa), Mr.
Olusegun Dare (Agba
Akin Aare), Mr. Shola
Osunkeye (Baaroyin
Aare), Mrs. Oluremi Dare
(Yeye Agba Akin), Capt.
Michael Adeshina
(Baarejiroro), Akogun
Gani Balogun (Osi Aare),
Hon Akeem Ige (Baameto
Aare), Mr. Kehinde
Oluwole (Baamofin
Aare), Mr. Femi Bamisile
(Baareselu Aare), Otunba
Kole Omololu (Odofin
Aare), Mr. Kayode Ajulo
(Mayegun Aare), Mr.
Yinka Oguntimehin
(Asoju Aare), Prof
Kolawole Raheem
(Parakoyi Aare), Chief
Ebudola Odedina
(Fiwagboye Aare), Chief
Kamorudeen Lamina
(Borokini Aare), Mrs.
Yewande Green
(Yeyeshewa Aare), Mrs.
Ige (Yeye Bameto Aare),
Alhaja Adiat Ayinke Alao
(Iyalaje Aare), Chief
Yaqub Adeshina (Akogun
Aare) and Mrs. Lateef
Adeshina (Yeye Akogun).
After appraising the
security situation in
Nigeria, especially in the
South West, the council
said: “The campaign of
blood by herdsmen, who
have been ravaging our
land, kidnapping, killing,
maiming and raping our
people in recent years has
become a serious source
of concern for the Yoruba
race; a race renowned for
their staunch passion for
peaceful co-existence,
national cohesion and
development.
“The threat posed to our
Continues on page 41
By Bose Adelaja, Olayinka Latona,
Dickson Omobola, Tolulope Oke,
Chiamaka Uba, Erinfolami
Abdulkudus & Janet Somoye
How do we halt increasing cases of child rape? (3)
The
disconcerting
increase in cases of
child rape can be
eradicated through shrewd
parental guidance, strict
enforcement of the law
against the vice, educating
children on how to protect
themselves from falling
victim and emboldening
them to speak up if they fall
victim and massive
information dissemination
on the vice.
- Oluwashina Ishola
Tourism promoter
In a country where we have
lost our moral values, from home,
to primary, secondary and tertiary
institution, what can we say of
morality? The worst take place in
public places. All these are
manifested in the way females dress,
exposing their bodies in public,
coupled with men’s exposure to hard
drugs and alcohol. Until we go back
to our values, there may not be serious
solution to child rape and other social
vices. No legislation can curb it.
-Julius Adegunna
Clergy
We should teach the
children especially
girls, early in life about
differences between boys
and girls. Also, when they
are touched in their private
parts, they should scream.
For grown ups, they should
stop going half naked on
the street because most men
are moved by what they
see. They should also
avoid late nights, lonely
places and unnecessary
visits.
-Nkechi Nwogo
Student
Our
patriarchal
system where we
see male as superior to
female, is one thing we
need to address as it has
helped to trigger rape.
To halt this menace,
parents need to educate
their children on the
menace and carry out
thorough surveillance on
their children.
-Abu Buhari
Student
Parents should try as much as
possible to give birth to the
number of children they can
take care of and ensure they
give them the best education.
Proper upbringing of children
and wards is very important so
that they will not grow up to become
perpetrators. Also, those
involved in the act of child rape
should get stiffer punishment.
Law enforcement agents
should not compromise in dealing
with the issue of child rape
and child abuse generally.
-Akinsanya Rebecca
Student
Parents should educate
their children and wards
more on sex, be closer to
them, advise them not to
accept gifts from strangers
and most importantly,
ensure that their children
can confide in them and
report any act of abuse to
them. Also, I will implore
the Federal Government to
enact and enforce laws that
will deal with perpetrators
and also protect the victims
from any kind of trauma.
-Mrs. Sunday Hope
Teacher