The Concourse – 04.06.2025
– By Soney Antai
Children’s Day and matters arising
As it has been doing since 1964,Nigeria, last 27 May,celebrated Children’s Day. That’s a day marked annually in honour of children with regards to their concerns: security, education, care, challenges and prospects. But its observance dates vary among countries. For instance, China celebrates the Day on 1 June; Japan on 5 May, and Britain 20 August.
According to the Nigerian Child Rights Act, a child is any person below the age of 18. Up until 18 years of age, most youngsters, especially in Third World countries, still live with their parents or guardians, going to school or undergoing some trade apprenticeship.
The International Children’s Day was first proclaimed in Geneva during the World Conference on Child Welfare held in 1925. But its roots go as far as 1856, when the Rev. Charles H. Leonard, then pastor of the First Universalist Church of Chelsea, Massachusetts, USA, dedicated a Sunday for the consecration of children to Christianity, and for the re-dedication of parents and guardians to bringing up their children in the ways of Jesus Christ.
In some countries, it is Children’s Week, not Children’s Day.But whatever it is, the celebrations focus on children. They engage in some fun, interact with their peers, participate in march pasts, among others. Adults watching them, especially the ones below 10, prattling, giggling and just displaying their innocence, can hardly help but remember their own childhood days. But every child doesn’t have fun on this Day.
Addressing children on their 2025 Day, the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, stated inter alia, “To us, the strongest tool to give our children for tomorrow is education and other skills … so that they may compete with their counterparts nationally and on the global stage.” I agree with him; and beyond that the children need true faith in Jesus Christ, more so as there are those whose regular meal is hunger, weeping, deprivation, depression and sorrow,at times just because of the circumstances of their births. We mustn’t forget them.
Eno went on to mention his construction of model primary schools in each local government area of the State, plans to also build model secondary schools in the Senatorial Districts, “equipped with world-class facilities, staff quarters and ICT centres”, as part of his efforts at helping children. He also spoke of his administration’s payment of teachers’ entitlements and gratuities. Of course, being aware of these, Mr Governor deserves commendation.
In line with the theme for this year’s celebration, “Stand up, Speak up: Building A Bullying-Free Generation” , may I take liberty to also speak up and offer a few thoughts on our children.
First, we must admit that every adult is a child grown big, even as every adult fortunate to reach old age would again become a child of another genre. And again, we are birds of passage on life’s revolving stage. As we exit the stage, our children step in to replace us. But what future are we leaving behind for them?
Parents, especially fathers, must take more interest in their children, aware, as James Dobson tells us, that “parenthood is more than a biological function.” And Dobson is right. Child upbringing should be shared responsibility between the parents. That duty becomes easier when the parents do it together.
Public schools should be returned to the front line of educational deliverables to our children. To achieve this, public officers must be made to send their wards to only public schools. By extension, no such officers must establish private schools while in office. Teachers’ welfare (that includes those in tertiary institutions) should compete with what obtains in the oil and gas sector. That is a great way to attract some of the best and brightest minds to the teaching profession.
Moreover, children should be protected from sociopaths engaging in child slavery in the name of marriage. Child rape should attract a life sentence. Ditto, men who impregnate girls but shirk fatherhood responsibility should be compelled by law to take responsibility for their acts. The family should be strengthened through village leaderships, community and faith-based groups, to encourage spouses to be responsible couples and parents.
The human ravens working in education regulatory authorities, who constantly collude with some indelicate invigilators and teachers to extort money from school children writing graduation exams should be tracked down and dealt with by security agents. Schools involved in cult activities should have a handshake with the law, and if such handshake goes beyond the elbow, good for them.
All said, we should remember that in a vast number of situations, children learn by emulation of what they observe and not admonitive verbiage. Parents, care givers or for that matter, the adult society, should, therefore, lead the young ones in discipline and love. That way, there would be reinstatement of hope for our children, our country, and our world.