Experts in child care-giving, protection and education, have challenged families, schools and religious institutions to join forces with the government in addressing the menace of child abuse, erosion of values and the increasing violence against children in the country.
The position was expressed by discussants who spoke at the 10th edition of ‘A Day with the Parish Priest,’ symposium organised by the Catholic Men Organisation (CMO) of St. Leo’s Catholic Church, Ikeja with the theme: ‘Child Abuse: A Menace Te The Society,’ held in Lagos.
They called for effective collaboration and networking among all stakeholders involved in children’s education, noting that the family, being the bedrock of any society, must awake to its responsibilities of child’s first contact with the outside world and be present in their everyday life.
According to the speakers, the advent of mobile devices and other technologies calls for stricter measures in addressing the challenges of developing the future of the children for the growth of the society.
Some of the problems identified as making a child vulnerable to abuse include negligence, lack of supervision, stress among working parents, misunderstanding of children’s state of mind and the erosion of values and unrestricted access to social media by children.
St. Leo’s Catholic Church parish CMO chairman, Mr. Maurice Offiong, said the menace of child abuse remains a major burning topic in the mind of average Nigerians and called on Christian homes to pay attention to the moral upbringing of their children in order to lessen the magnitude of the challenges of the current malaise.
A Lead Consultant Edu-Care Consult, Mrs. Omonefe Ehikhuuemen, lamented the increase in parental neglect of providing basic care to children at their formative stages, affirming that economic pressures have forced parents to hand over supervisory roles to maids, schools and religious institutions.
For Sister Gertrude Elelegu, Project Manager Bakhita St Louis Empowerment Network, “the creation of awareness and continuous education for those directly involved in molding the careers of children should be prioritised while government must ensure that a situation whereby child abusers and molesters are left off the hook does not portends a bright future for the future of Nigeria.”
Father Linus Nnkemjinaka of the ‘Priest on the Street’ mission, said parents must understand the physical, spiritual and emotional state of their wards always even as they go about their businesses to fend for the family.
