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NIGERIA: Is Our Military Ready To Fight BOKO HAR...: NIGERIA: Is Our Military Ready To Fight BOKO HARAM? Over the years, Boko Haram insurgence has been under abeyan...
Tuesday 27 May 2014
geophilworld: BOKO HARAM: Is This Year’s Children’s Day WorthCel...
geophilworld: BOKO HARAM: Is This Year’s Children’s Day WorthCel...: BOKO HARAM: Is This Year’s Children’s Day Worth Celebrating? Children’s Day is a day set aside in honour of children all over the world...
BOKO HARAM: Is This Year’s Children’s Day Worth
Celebrating?
Children’s Day is a day set aside in honour of children
all over the world, but it is celebrated on different dates globally.
It was first proclaimed in 1925 by the World Conference
for the wellbeing of children, after which it was universally established in
1954 by the United Nations General Assembly to encourage all countries to
institute a date, although, the universal Children’s Day is celebrated annually
on November 20 by the United Nations.
In Nigeria, Children’s Day is celebrated on May 27
annually, and is set aside as a public holiday for primary and secondary school
children. Children from various schools are selected for a march past parade
competition. Parents and other Non Governmental Organizations, organize parties
for children in a bid to give them a sense of belonging.
Today marks the 43rd day since over 200 female
students of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State were abducted by
the Boko Haram insurgents. The abductors have held the girls hostage since they
were whisked off at 11:45pm April 14, 2014, to an unknown location.
The leader of the Islamic sect, Abubakar Shekau, who
spoke sometimes ago, stated that the girls were captured because they were
seeking western education. To him, western education is sin; hence, it is to be
forbidden. He further said, women are to marry and not to be in schools.
After foreign governments offered assistance to rescue
the kidnapped girls from their abductors, Abubakar Shekau came out in a video
clip on May 12, 2014, demanding an exchange of the Chibok girls for members of
his group in the custody of Nigeria’s security agencies. About 100 girls in a
video released by the sect were seen reciting the Quran. The girls have been converted
to Islam contrary to their religious beliefs, which is at variance with the
rights of a child.
Obviously, these girls are not safe; they have become
endangered. You’ll not be wrong if you assert that the Nigerian military is
lethargic in the search for the missing girls.
With the spate of things going on in the north-eastern
part of the country, our children are not safe. Fear has gripped every parent
up to the point that none of them wants their children engaged in any social
event. This is in accordance with the Nigerian Union of Teacher’s (NUT)
declaration that all primary and secondary schools in the country be closed as
at May 22, 2014, in protest against the abduction of the Chibok girls and the
murder of 173 teachers.
Is this year’s children’s day worth celebrating? It is
supposed to be a day where children all over the world would be aware of the
vulnerability of their counterparts to violence, exploitation and
discrimination. Children in some troubled parts of the world are recruited as
child soldiers.
Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the UN, led the
initiative for the education of children, stating that every child must be able
to attend school and improve on the skills acquired in schools.
Of a truth, the essence of the celebration is to promote
mutual understanding among children, and the initiation of actions towards
enhancing the welfare of the Nigerian children.
Our children are the leaders of tomorrow.
Let us protect them.
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