The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Children

  • DSTV fetes children

    There was no dull moment at the DSTV Children’s Day Party held at the Landmark Village, Oniru, Victoria Island, Lagos last Saturday.

    The event was also used by the firm to announce plans to launch the DSTV Club for children and teenagers in July.

    The satellite pay-TV firm ensured that the children and their parents had fun and VIP treatment. A variety of food, snacks and drinks were not in short supply, while the DJ kept the venue lively with music from top Nigerian musicians.

    Various specialists were on hand to engage the young ones in fun activities such as face painting, bead-making craft, and for those who wanted it, their yellow, blue and red DSTV t-shirts were customised with their names artistically written on them.

    There were also train rides, portrait photo shoot, and outdoor play on the bouncing castle, as well as many fun games. Speaking on the significance of the celebration, Mr Mayo Okunola, Group Managing Director, DSTV said the commemoration of the Children’s Day is to encourage families to celebrate with their children as well as remember those who cannot celebrate because of their circumstances.

    “We don’t get time to spend with our children. Many parents here are very busy and this gives opportunity for family time.

    “We call it a celebration, but there are many children out there who are being abused. We want to remember them at this time,” he said.

    Speaking on the DSTV Club, which will have a membership of toddlers up to 16, Okunola said members will benefit from giveaways, as well as get opportunities to showcase their talents. One of the parents, Mrs Roli Segun-Ajala, praised the organisers for putting up the event.

    “It’s been wonderful. It is a beautiful party. The kids are having fun; lots to eat, lots to drink; lots of fun things to do; we are all having so much fun. On the Children’s Day, I will be going to work so I am trying to do all I can do with the children now so I don’t feel guilty if nothing happens on Monday,” she said.

     

  • School celebrates children’s day

    Pupils of Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State, particularly those in Orisigun Primary School have been treated to goodies in commemoration of this year’s Children’s Day.

    The event was hosted by the Goldcrest Family Centre, a non-governmental organisation for widows, vulnerable families and children.

    According to the organisers, the choice of the school was borne out of the numbera of indigent pupils who don’t have enough of what it takes go to school. These pupils are characterised by poor performances because they are not well taken care of.

    Mrs Agatha Chukwura, convener of the event, told The Nation that the organistion has been reaching out to people in the last 10 years and that this year’s children’s day focuses on teachers and pupils.

    “The pupils perform better than the teachers. So, the debate competition, which was held among 10 schools, is to teach the students various subjects and career counselling, ensuring that teaching and learning are instilled in the public schools. The teachers and their pupils were given many incentives like fridges, flat screen televisions, rugs, blenders and other educational materials,” she said.

    With sponsors, such as ExxonMobil and GMT Energy Resources, it shows that there are people who care for them.

    Mrs Chukwura said there was need to sensitise from the grassroots. “Let us start from the basic so that in 20 years time, we will have a nation where public office holders are put in their positions based on merit and not tribalism or sentiments,” she added.

     

  • Oshiomhole urges religious bodies, others to invest in children

    Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole yesterday urged voluntary organisations, traditional and religious institutions as well as corporate bodies to invest in the upbringing of children, especially in the general environment where the children learn and play.

    Represented by his deputy, Dr Pius Odubu, the governor spoke at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin, the state capital, during this year’s Children’s Day celebration, with the theme: Our Children, Our Future, Our Collective Responsibility.

    Oshiomhole said everyone has a responsibility to ensure that children become good, productive and law-abiding citizens.

     

  • That the children may live…

    This soulless nation has governors who take champagne for breakfast, lunch and supper. Yet, there are children with holes in their hearts who have to beg good hearted people for hand-outs

    To celebrate this year’s Children’s Day Anniversary, dear reader, we focus on the question ‘What do our children mean to us as a nation?’ The answer will determine how much we are ready to ‘Stop Violence Against Children’, which I think is one of the themes this year. All I can come up with is ‘Nothing!’ Hey, listen a bit, will you; just let me lay out my reasons for this. I suspect though that there be some among us trying to swallow me up with their yawn because the subject holds no magic for them. I forgive them.

    To start with, violence surrounds the little tots in this country from birth. Facts, figures and indexical studies have shown that Nigeria has one of the highest maternal/child mortality rates in the world. Indeed, it is so bad I am told that for every other breath I take, a poor mother somewhere is losing either her child or her life through labour. Now, if I can just hold that breath … Any hows, the world knows that the situation is indeed grave, and so does Nigeria, but what has the country done about it? Again, Nothing! Nigerian hospitals continue to snuff the life out of people because of broken down or non-existent vital machines, God Almighty continues to take labour deliveries while doctors and midwives continue to throw up their hands in despair crying, ‘Whatever happened to the Pied Piper of Hamelin?’

    Now, let’s move on. The world knows, and so does Nigeria, that Nigerian children are regularly used for cheap, and I mean very cheap, labour in this country, and what does the country do about it? Nothing! Each day, a little boy of no more than ten years passes in front of my house hawking his ware at the top of his voice. On bare foot. Indeed, he has become such a master of his trade that he has turned his hawking calls into song. Each morning, therefore, he goes ‘Com-m-m-me a-a-a-a-a-and bu-u-u-u-u-uy ma-a-a-a-a- pa-a-a-a-a-p!’ That sure takes me to only one conclusion: he should be in my choir because he sings tenor. Seriously though, children are killed, maimed, sold or kidnapped in this country because they are sent hawking each day by their mothers and fathers who are too indifferent to get up and fend for them. That is the kind of violence that has made many among us to take a very drastic action: we look the other way.

    Sometimes, though, looking the other way is not so easy because you soon find yourself suffering from neck cramps. We then do the next best thing, and that is to cringe before the situation. ‘My child, why are you hawking so early this morning instead of going to school?’ ‘I will go to school when I have finished selling this’, he replies. ‘But why must you be selling this so early?’ ‘My mother asked me to.’ Naturally, that silences those of us who are excessively greedy for information.

    I think though that the period of silence should be over right about … now. Listen to this tale. A monk joined a monastery of two where speech was forbidden because he wanted to devote himself to God completely. For a year, no one said a word in the monastery. At the end of that year, one of the monks spoke. ‘What month is this?, he asked. After another year, the other monk said, ‘November.’ Yet another year passed before the monk who spoke first said, ‘Pea in shoe is pinching. Worn it for three years.’ At that, the new monk packed his bags. ‘I’m going’, he said, ‘You two talk too much.’

    I think we have talked too much already on the status of children in this country, and none of it has brought any relief for my early morning pap crooner. He is still compelled to hawk wares (of no more than one thousand Naira) before he can go to school. Now, after crawling through the neighbourhood all morning, what do you think he’ll go and do in school? Sleep in class, like everyone else, that’s what. So, no thanks, no more talk. Now, it’s action.

    Let’s begin with the child’s education. It is time we enacted a law that makes school truancy a punishable offence to both parent and child. A young boy of about twelve that I know can neither read nor write because his parents need him more on the farm than in school. His father is too sick to farm, but he eats manageably well, thank you for asking. That law would not only compel every child to go to school but also stay in school. Every child must be given a chance to have meaningfulness in his life and hope in a future.

    While we are at it, let us also enact a law that says no child below the age of fourteen, including babies on their mothers’ backs, will be allowed to ride on commercial motorcycles (popularly called Okadas) or in the front passenger’s seat in a car while in traffic. If the country cannot enact laws to protect the child’s safety in traffic, however, at least let the IG give me the right to arrest such erring parents. I promise to use it carefully though I have one or two parents in mind.

    We would thank you very much indeed, dear government, if STREET HAWKING BY CHILDREN CAN BE BANNED BY LAW. Hawking on the streets is decidedly going out to meet violence. God alone knows the number of children who have gone missing from that exercise alone. Nothing justifies asking a little child to put a little tray of wares on his head and move from one neighbourhood to another hawking those things before he/she can have breakfast. That law would remind us all, literate and illiterate alike, that a child is entitled to reasonable food, shelter, education and clothing from his parents up to a certain age. Those are his rights. That law would also remind us all that having children is a great privilege. So you see, violence seems to surround our little tots everywhere in this nation.

    Yet, we have not mentioned domestic violence. We are lucky in these parts though; our communal living style effectively guards against the maniacal tendencies of psychopathic and sociopathic men and women masquerading as parents. For as long as that communal living is in place, the tendencies can stay in check. Now you see how useful the endless uncles and aunties are. Make room for them, will you, in that little bungalow of yours. Ah hem!

    The country appears to be waking up from its slumber though. Now, it has enacted laws against child labour and child slavery. The only thing is that now, it finds itself dealing with baby factories. The ingenuity of Nigerians appears inexhaustible, right?

    Pardon me, but what laws have been put in place to protect children who are handicapped, sick or with special needs? What laws are in place for children whose parents cannot meet the health bills of such children? There is no greater violence against these children than when we merely push a wheelchair in their direction and leave them to fend for themselves. The state needs to wake up to them.

    This soulless nation has governors who take champagne for breakfast, lunch and supper. Yet, there are children with holes in their hearts who have to beg good hearted people for hand-outs in the media. It is time to really mean it when we say the children are our future. We must work now, while there is time, to build the Nigerian child. It is time we gave our children life.

  • That the children may live…

    That the children may live…

    This soulless nation has governors who take champagne for breakfast, lunch and supper. Yet, there are children with holes in their hearts who have to beg good hearted people for hand-outs

     

    To celebrate this year’s Children’s Day Anniversary, dear reader, we focus on the question ‘What do our children mean to us as a nation?’ The answer will determine how much we are ready to ‘Stop Violence Against Children’, which I think is one of the themes this year. All I can come up with is ‘Nothing!’ Hey, listen a bit, will you; just let me lay out my reasons for this. I suspect though that there be some among us trying to swallow me up with their yawn because the subject holds no magic for them. I forgive them.

    To start with, violence surrounds the little tots in this country from birth. Facts, figures and indexical studies have shown that Nigeria has one of the highest maternal/child mortality rates in the world. Indeed, it is so bad I am told that for every other breath I take, a poor mother somewhere is losing either her child or her life through labour. Now, if I can just hold that breath … Any hows, the world knows that the situation is indeed grave, and so does Nigeria, but what has the country done about it? Again, Nothing! Nigerian hospitals continue to snuff the life out of people because of broken down or non-existent vital machines, God Almighty continues to take labour deliveries while doctors and midwives continue to throw up their hands in despair crying, ‘Whatever happened to the Pied Piper of Hamelin?’

    Now, let’s move on. The world knows, and so does Nigeria, that Nigerian children are regularly used for cheap, and I mean very cheap, labour in this country, and what does the country do about it? Nothing! Each day, a little boy of no more than ten years passes in front of my house hawking his ware at the top of his voice. On bare foot. Indeed, he has become such a master of his trade that he has turned his hawking calls into song. Each morning, therefore, he goes ‘Com-m-m-me a-a-a-a-a-and bu-u-u-u-u-uy ma-a-a-a-a- pa-a-a-a-a-p!’ That sure takes me to only one conclusion: he should be in my choir because he sings tenor. Seriously though, children are killed, maimed, sold or kidnapped in this country because they are sent hawking each day by their mothers and fathers who are too indifferent to get up and fend for them. That is the kind of violence that has made many among us to take a very drastic action: we look the other way.

    Sometimes, though, looking the other way is not so easy because you soon find yourself suffering from neck cramps. We then do the next best thing, and that is to cringe before the situation. ‘My child, why are you hawking so early this morning instead of going to school?’ ‘I will go to school when I have finished selling this’, he replies. ‘But why must you be selling this so early?’ ‘My mother asked me to.’ Naturally, that silences those of us who are excessively greedy for information.

    I think though that the period of silence should be over right about … now. Listen to this tale. A monk joined a monastery of two where speech was forbidden because he wanted to devote himself to God completely. For a year, no one said a word in the monastery. At the end of that year, one of the monks spoke. ‘What month is this?, he asked. After another year, the other monk said, ‘November.’ Yet another year passed before the monk who spoke first said, ‘Pea in shoe is pinching. Worn it for three years.’ At that, the new monk packed his bags. ‘I’m going’, he said, ‘You two talk too much.’

    I think we have talked too much already on the status of children in this country, and none of it has brought any relief for my early morning pap crooner. He is still compelled to hawk wares (of no more than one thousand Naira) before he can go to school. Now, after crawling through the neighbourhood all morning, what do you think he’ll go and do in school? Sleep in class, like everyone else, that’s what. So, no thanks, no more talk. Now, it’s action.

    Let’s begin with the child’s education. It is time we enacted a law that makes school truancy a punishable offence to both parent and child. A young boy of about twelve that I know can neither read nor write because his parents need him more on the farm than in school. His father is too sick to farm, but he eats manageably well, thank you for asking. That law would not only compel every child to go to school but also stay in school. Every child must be given a chance to have meaningfulness in his life and hope in a future.

    While we are at it, let us also enact a law that says no child below the age of fourteen, including babies on their mothers’ backs, will be allowed to ride on commercial motorcycles (popularly called Okadas) or in the front passenger’s seat in a car while in traffic. If the country cannot enact laws to protect the child’s safety in traffic, however, at least let the IG give me the right to arrest such erring parents. I promise to use it carefully though I have one or two parents in mind.

    We would thank you very much indeed, dear government, if STREET HAWKING BY CHILDREN CAN BE BANNED BY LAW. Hawking on the streets is decidedly going out to meet violence. God alone knows the number of children who have gone missing from that exercise alone. Nothing justifies asking a little child to put a little tray of wares on his head and move from one neighbourhood to another hawking those things before he/she can have breakfast. That law would remind us all, literate and illiterate alike, that a child is entitled to reasonable food, shelter, education and clothing from his parents up to a certain age. Those are his rights. That law would also remind us all that having children is a great privilege. So you see, violence seems to surround our little tots everywhere in this nation.

    Yet, we have not mentioned domestic violence. We are lucky in these parts though; our communal living style effectively guards against the maniacal tendencies of psychopathic and sociopathic men and women masquerading as parents. For as long as that communal living is in place, the tendencies can stay in check. Now you see how useful the endless uncles and aunties are. Make room for them, will you, in that little bungalow of yours. Ah hem!

    The country appears to be waking up from its slumber though. Now, it has enacted laws against child labour and child slavery. The only thing is that now, it finds itself dealing with baby factories. The ingenuity of Nigerians appears inexhaustible, right?

    Pardon me, but what laws have been put in place to protect children who are handicapped, sick or with special needs? What laws are in place for children whose parents cannot meet the health bills of such children? There is no greater violence against these children than when we merely push a wheelchair in their direction and leave them to fend for themselves. The state needs to wake up to them.

    This soulless nation has governors who take champagne for breakfast, lunch and supper. Yet, there are children with holes in their hearts who have to beg good hearted people for hand-outs in the media. It is time to really mean it when we say the children are our future. We must work now, while there is time, to build the Nigerian child. It is time we gave our children life.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • The lost children of Oshodi

    The lost children of Oshodi

    MAY 27 SPECIAL As the country marks Children’s Day tomorrow, Hannah Ojo ran into children who call themselves ‘Jungle Kids’. They have lost their innocence and amid watching out for men of the task force and smoking marijuana in the sun, they managed to share their experiences with her.

     

    They come across as child soldiers; their innocence stripped, their voices hoarse, their lips darkened. Their breath reek of locally brewed alcohol, ogogoro. Their teeth are decorated with tooth plaques and stained, an indication that brushing daily may appear to be a far-fetched luxury. Torn and weather-beaten bathroom slippers adorn their legs. All these combine to give their appearance as rough and unkempt. They betray no sense of pity as they appear to be in charge of themselves. Tomorrow, some of their peers will march to the stadia across the country to celebrate the Children’s Day, others would simply take shelter under the cocoon of their parents to savour the pleasure of the holiday. But for these street kids at the Ilupeju side of the Oshodi motor park, life would be the same, the celebration notwithstanding.

    It took a rehearsed line of persuasion as a sympathiser and a ‘small change’ to court their attention. Even at that, some of them did not care. They just looked away, casting empty look of despair and nonchalance while once in a while, fixing their gaze on the reporter’s bag. The pavements on the railway lines in Oshodi serve as their place of ease to answer the call of nature. For them, home is anywhere available. This is a ‘church for minors’, one of them chipped in. we are here to jamajama (a term in the local parlance for hustling to make ends meet).

    Do they know it’s Children’s Day?

    How do they manage to cope with this kind of life? was the first question posed to one of them. “A nmu shadow. We sleep under the bridge, in the mosque, and anywhere we see. Fashola’s government is ruthless. The taskforce are always hunting us. They have taken some of us to welfare (homes) several times but we always find a way to come back.” This was the submission of Qudus Ibrahim, 14, from Awori land. For his age, he appears advanced as he handles the weed (Indian hemp) in his hand with seasoned expertise as he puffs into the air. Qudus comes across as amiable in his manner of approach. Asked if he would like to go to school, he said ‘no’! “My father is a police man but we have family issues. I am here to hustle and work on my own. I am doing omo igboro (boy around town) here.” For him, his future is what comes by chance as he seems to have resigned to fate. “It is what God said I would become that I will be”, he said.

    Hustling for them means working as conductors or alaaru (load carriers) for passengers in the park. They also engage in acts such as picking pockets, snatching phones and other social vices as they see it as part of the survival game. They believe, as one of them loudly pronounced, that, “epe o nmu omo ita” (area boys cannot be affected by curses). It may be a surprise to know that some of them came from Ibadan. The case of Ajibola, 13, who is a runaway kid from Ibadan is most pathetic. He does not know his parents and his foster family maltreated him, so he simply decided to run away. His peers call him ‘small’ because he looks stunted for his age. He also brandishes a weed while clutching protectively to something in his pocket during the course of the discourse.

    For Moshood Adebayo, another minor from Akure, in Ondo State, the trip to a rough life as an area boy was a choice forced on him by hunger. Although one can sense that his decision was with a touch of waywardness. According to him, “I went to school. I had to stop at SS2 because there was no money to continue. He confessed that life as a jungle kid is tough. I learnt a trade: shoe making. I couldn’t use it to work because I ran from home since there is no work to do. He says he had to join the ‘boys’ when he came to Lagos because there is no one to help him settle. He does not hide the fact that he is not coping well here since according to him, “he is restless” and he says the money they make is barely enough for them to survive. In fact, he gives the appearance of one who is tired of life as his cooperation during the talk was exceptionally noticeable.

    When asked what can be done for them; one of them dismissively says he wants ‘them’ to buy a bomb for him, giving the undertone that these kids can also be ready tools in the hands of terrorists and candidates for militia groups.

    One of them who gave his name as Atenu, who others fondly call enu eja referrs to himself as a deity and choose not to talk. He only showed a scar on his belly when he was hit by a BRT bus while at ‘work’.

    Even though they give themselves away as not being afraid of anything, they are children after all. They talk about the fear of kidney problems which they learnt could be derived from weed smoking. “Smoking igbo (weed) scatters the brain but we cannot stop, it is the devil’s work.”

    They meet every day in Oshodi and other places across Lagos and the country and as the nation marks the Children’s Day tomorrow many of them are starkly unaware that it is their day. Are they in the country’s statistics of the number of children out of school, does the government know they exist? Are they the future time bomb as children of discontent? The answer hovers in the wind…

     

  • Emergency: Soldiers rescue nine women, children held hostage by Boko Haram

    Emergency: Soldiers rescue nine women, children held hostage by Boko Haram

    Freedom came yesterday for six children and three women held as ransom by the Boko Haram Islamist sect in Bama, Borno State.

    The captives were rescued by Federal troops who overran three camps of the sect in Sambisa forest, a stretch of 16-kilometre uncultivated mass of trees and shrubs in central Borno, the Defence Headquarters announced yesterday.

    Three other captives–a woman and her two children– were, however, missing. The authorities said a search was on to locate them.

    The captives were all seized at the Bama Police Station by the insurgents when they invaded the town on May 7.

    No fewer than 50 people were killed during the invasion.

    Several houses were also set ablaze by the sect’s members who also attacked the prison in the town and set about 100 inmates free.

    The Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Chris Olubolade, told journalists in Abuja that the women and children were rescued by the Special Forces.

    He showed reporters a video recording and photographs of the freed hostages.

    The abducted women and children were shown in a recent You Tube video by the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau.

    Olukolade was silent on Shekau’s whereabouts.

    He said the harsh conditions of the forest must have taken a toll on the yet-to-be-found mother and her two children.

    The Major General Lawrence Ngubane–led operational assessment team raised by the Defence Headquarters said in a report that all the terrorist camps in northern and central Borno had been neutralised by the federal troops.

    The video clips showed what the DHQ described as a makeshift clinic of the insurgents, their destroyed camps in the forest, operational vehicles, fuel and water storage tanks. Olukolade said some of the vehicles and other property were set ablaze by the terrorists themselves before fleeing.

    The video clips also showed the troops in friendly interactions with residents of communities in some of the localities under the emergency rule.

    Olukolade said the troops had been adhering strictly to the rules of engagement, adding that no civilian casualty had been recorded.

    In a message to the troops, the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim, commended them for demonstrating a high level of professionalism in the operations.

    He said the feat performed by the soldiers was a major achievement in the process of restoring normalcy to communities hitherto held captive by the insurgents.

    Ibrahim enjoined them to continue to adhere strictly to the rules of engagement and operational codes of conduct, stressing that the exercise was a major test case on the capacity of the security forces to manage the nation’s security challenges.

    He said: “Troops must not make themselves vulnerable. Those who carry arms against the state and citizens are the ones we are fighting against.

    “Troops must exhibit a high standard of commitment and discipline in all steps taken during this operation. This is not an exercise but a real operation.”

    Admiral Ibrahim expressed the confidence that the terrorists would be defeated in record time, considering the superiority of the troops in terms of training and support from Nigerians.

     

  • ‘Over 10m children out of school’

    Federal Government yesterday released its scorecard of educational achievements for 2012 and estimated that a total of 10.5million children of school age are not yet exposed to basic education in the country.

    The report released by the Federal Ministry of Education in conjunction with some of its parastatals also indicated that majority of the affected children are from the northern part of the country and are mostly girls.

    Government also listed a number of shortfalls encountered in basic education delivery in the year under review which were teacher quality, inadequate classroom furniture, libraries, laboratories and relevant text books among others.

    In the scorecard, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) revealed that among 1.6million candidates who applied for admission into tertiary institutions in 2012, only 218,324 eventually got admission offers into various institutions.

    Further statistics also revealed that a total of N44, 100,207,962.60 set aside as Universal Basic Education (UBE) matching grants between 2005 and 2012 was un-accessed as at December 31, 2012.

    Meanwhile, Minister of Education, Ruqayyatu Rufa’i, at the report presentation which held at the National Universities Commission (NUC) yesterday called for private sector participation in the commercialization of research products churned out from tertiary institutions.

    She emphasized that such partnership would boost the nation’s economy through employment opportunities for the youths and by extension reduces the importation of similar products from other countries.

    Her words: “Over the years, we have been aware that pockets of innovations exist in our educational institutions. The challenge has been that of bringing these out to the public domain through commercialisation so that they can serve the interest of society.

    “The ultimate advantage of commercializing is that it would help enhance the nation’s competitive standing globally as a nation”.

  • ‘Assist vulnerable children’

    Women in PENGASSAN (WIP), the female wing of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), has called on the governments to create special funds to take care of less-privileged children.

    Its National Chairperson, Comrade Ijeoma Dom-Nwachukwu, stated this when the group visited the SOS Children Village in Isolo, Lagos.

    “Government at all levels should do what is necessary to alleviate the sufferings of these little ones that found themselves as orphans not by their own making. I do not think it is something too much for the government to annually put up something for this people to run this place,” she said.

    Comrade Dom-Nwachukwu, who lamented at the high number of vulnerable children in the country, promised that the association would do more in the future to alleviate the plights of the children having seen the situation on ground.

    “In fact, coming here has actually given us the energy to do more. We have discovered that we were not really doing that much. I wonder how the management of the SOS villages in Nigeria cope with so many children and the little things that come their way. In future, we hope to do better than we have just done,” she said.

    The Lagos Zonal Chairperson of WIP, Comrade Bola Ohikere, noted that the gesture is to demonstrate that PENGASSAN also cares about social issues but not only for the welfare of its members and the oil and gas industry.

    The women, who were conducted round the village to see the children, donated LG chest freezer, nine bags of rice, four bags of Tempo detergent, six cartons of Indomie noodles, toiletries and bags of clothes to it.

    Responding, a Director of a humanitarian organisation, Societal Socialese, SOS, Children’s Village, Lagos, Mr B. A. Buraimoh, appreciated PENGASSAN women’s concern, for the vulnerable children in the society.

    He noted that the problem of vulnerable children in Nigeria is a huge one that requires the attention of citizens, adding that his organisation has adopted some programmes to cater for those children.

     

     

     

     

  • Father of many children

    Father of many children

    • Robert Edwards, test-tube baby pioneer, passes on

    The death, on April 10, of Professor Sir Robert Edwards, whose pioneering research into in-vitro fertilisation brought joy to millions of families around the world, marks the end of a significant phase of path-breaking scientific research.

    Working in an era when long-standing ethical and religious values had begun to clash with several aspects of cutting-edge science, Sir Edwards displayed the courage and understanding that were vital to getting others to buy into his vision. While he respected the objections of religious and other conservative groups, he repeatedly pointed out the unimpeachable motive which inspired him, namely the desire to ensure that couples that were childless could get offspring of their own.

    Today, the vision of Edwards and his co-pioneer, Dr. Patrick Steptoe has become magnificently manifest, as over four million children have been born as a result of their innovativeness and persistence. This is clearly a positive demonstration of the ways in which committed science can be of use to the advancement of society. In contrast to weapons research, for instance, in-vitro fertilisation seeks to provide hope instead of despair, and to bring life rather than death.

    It is gratifying to note that Edwards’ dogged commitment was ultimately rewarding to him on a personal level as well. In 2010, some four decades after stunning the world with his achievement, the Nobel Prize for Medicine was bestowed upon him. One year later, he was given a knighthood.

    There can be no doubt that the connection between science and society is a symbiotic one. At its most useful, science addresses itself to the solving of social problems in such a way that the overall quality of life is improved. However, in achieving this laudable goal, researchers often venture into uncharted waters, thereby sometimes arousing the opposition of society’s more conservative elements. This has certainly been the case in areas of medicine like stem-cell research, euthanasia and cloning, where strong disagreement has arisen on both the ethics and the likely consequences of such research.

    Differences of opinion cannot be avoided on these issues, but what is required is the civilised exchange of views in order to arrive at a workable consensus. Just as it would be wrong for the scientists to disparage disagreement with their research aims, so would it be inappropriate for such research to be denigrated out of hand. History has shown that a great deal of opposition to scientific advance was misinformed, and that society has largely been better off as a result of such advances, especially those in medicine. Yet, given the rapid pace of scientific research and the significance it poses for the very foundations of society, it is unwise to disregard those who harbour genuine fears about the ethical and other consequences of such enquiry.

    As a member of the global community, Nigeria has been a beneficiary of the latest advances in scientific research. In-vitro fertilisation, which used to be undertaken abroad in conditions of secrecy, is now available in the country as a relatively routine procedure. There also appears to be increasing utilisation of cosmetic surgery, organ transplants and other operations which were also initially controversial.

    In the light of these developments, Nigeria must begin to engage with medical research issues in a much more considered way. An impending ban on human cloning by the Senate, for example, ought to have been taken only after exhaustive public discussion and expert commentary. It makes no sense to act in knee-jerk fashion, only to have to backtrack in the future. Indeed, given the penchant for the country’s politicians to rush overseas for medical treatment, it would have been expected that they should have seen the imperative of ensuring that Nigeria is properly positioned at the cutting-edge of medical research.