The Nation Newspaper

Tag: kids

  • Why we ran away from home, by rescued kids

    Why we ran away from home, by rescued kids

    Two teenagers who fled their parents’ homes in Abuja have been rescued by Rapid Response Squad (RRS) operatives in Lagos.

    They were reunited with their parents at the weekend, a statement by the police said yesterday.

    Chidubem Amaechi, 13 and Chinedu Onyebuchi, 13, were picked up by the police after they got off a bus from Abuja at Ojodu-Berger.

    According to the police, the duo fled their homes last Sunday and were invited for interrogation by the police after they were seen wandering.

    Initially, they were said to have lied to detectives that they were kidnapped, blindfolded and brought to Lagos. The police said the teenagers alleged that they escaped from their kidnappers, who were sleeping under a bridge on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, by the Ogun State boundary.

    But after three days, the teenagers were said to have confessed that they fled Abuja in search of a better life to help their parents.

    A source said: “The officers later moved the boys to the RRS Headquarters, where an investigation into their alleged kidnapping was launched immediately. While the investigation progressed, officers suspected the children were lying about the kidnapping story.

    “Their parents, who have been looking for them in Abuja since May 14, were shocked when contacted that their children were in the custody of RRS in Lagos.

    “It took three days of questioning before Chidubem Amaechi opened up that he and Chinedu Onyebuchi connived to leave Abuja because of the poor state of their parents.”

    Amaechi said: “We noticed that our parents were suffering in order to take care of us. We decided to come to Lagos and work for some time. Whatever we are able to raise in six months, we would hand over to our parents for them to start business.

    “We realised that the hardship was too much and that we would be helping them if we left our families in Abuja in search of better opportunities in Lagos.

    “I brought my N4,200 savings while Chinedu added N500 as transport fare to Lagos. We were already in Lagos before we realised that we were simply being stupid. We were wandering about when the officer invited us for questioning.”

    Handing over the teenagers to their parents, RRS Commander, Olatunji Disu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), begged them to monitor the kids.

    The boys promised to never run away from home again.

  • Expectant mum, kids stranded in U.S. after husband’s sudden death

    Expectant mum, kids stranded in U.S. after husband’s sudden death

    They were only a few days old in the United States. Tunde Adepegba, his wife Oluwayemisi , who is seven-month pregnant, and their two chidlren, arrived the U.S. in April. But on April 26, Adepegba died in a bus. His wife has sobbed her heart out since then.

    Mrs. Adepegba, who has two daughters aged two and eight, had barely spent 12 hours with her husband when he was picked up dead inside a metro bus.

    The late Adepegba, a computer systems analyst, suffered a suspected heart attack while inside a metro bus in Annapolis area of Maryland and died with no help until the bus driver got to a final stop and came for him.

    The late Adepegba’s burial will cost about $10,000, which the wife does not have. A gofundme account has been set up for her husband burial.

    A deputy editor with THISDAY newspaper, Olawale Olaleye, who has been part of the fundraiser, wrote on his facebook wall: “This is no good news but a time I need the Nigerian in us to act true to type. Sadly, he left behind a pregnant wife. It is such a pathetic situation. But we can’t go on and on brooding over what we can’t change. This is an appeal for his burial, which is a bit expensive in the U.S and of course, whatever is left of this will be given to the pregnant wife.”

    A columnist with THISDAY newspaper, Adeola Akinremi, who is  in the US and has seen the family of the deceased, said: “It is a sad story.  The gofundme.com is probably the first place to start, but you can also reach out to the woman directly.”

    Mrs Adepegba and her children are in Randallstown, Maryland, United States, where a Good Samaritan is accommodating them.

  • Actionaid, NAPTIP tackle violence against kids

    A United Kingdom (UK) charity organisation, Actionaid has entered into partnership with National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP) and other government agencies in a bid to end violence against children in Nigeria.

    Speaking at a media sensitisation meeting, Maryann Obidike, the presentative of Actionaid explained the importance of protecting the children. As Assets of the country.

    She reaffirmed the organization’s efforts in the. Success of the strategy put in place which cut across five states, Edo, Benue, Nasarawa, FCT and Kuduna in order to take the message to the grassroots.

    Obidike explained that the strategy known as Sustainable Mechanism for Improving Livelihood and house Empowerment (SMILE) is design to strengthened institutional and technical capacity of states and local government to provide, manage, and monitor integrated comprehensiveness of children and their families.

    She noted also that SMILE as a strategy will strengthen organizational and technical capacity of civil society organizations.

    Maryann said, “SMILE is using a bottom-up approach to ensure sustainability of whatever project that is carried out by the organisation, we ensure that the people whom this projects are for, benefit and own the projects.

    “The people getting help must own the programme as a way of allowing the contributions of the people make the decision of what project Actionaid will carry out in a particular location” she stated.

    Also at the meeting, Adekoye Vincent, a representative from the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP) charged the media to create more awareness of the dangers of child abuse through their reporting.

    On his part, the Deputy Director in the department of Social Development Service (SDS) in the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Adeyemi Ajayi explained that national survey conducted in 2014 by National Population Commission shows that one in four girls and one in 10 boys experience sexual violence.

  • Obi marks Freedom Day with Sokoto kids

    Obi marks Freedom Day with Sokoto kids

    Former governor of Anambra State Peter Obi has celebrated the World Freedom Day with pupils and students of Holy Family Secondary School, Sokoto and St. Patrick’s School, Illela, the border town between Sokoto and Niger Republic.

    Mr. Obi who said that his decision to celebrate the day in remote parts of Sokoto State was a way of assuring Nigerian children wherever they are that somebody cared for them and will always be available to encourage them  to take their education seriously as the  most important currency for competition in the world.

    While in both schools, which have nursery, primary and secondary tiers, Obi went from class to class, interacting with the pupils. He told them that the essence of the World Freedom Day was not just being free from shackles of slavery, trafficking enslavement, but also being emancipated through education and acquisition of right values.

    Quoting Jean Jacques Rousseau, the French philosopher, Obi said: “When Rousseau said in his book ‘The Social Contract’, that man is free, but everywhere in chains, he meant not just slavery as you and I know, but also the dangerous type of slavery occasioned by ignorance, which proper education only can overcome.”

    On the visits, Obi donated N2 million to both schools, N1 million to each of them.

    Obi who recently returned from Rwanda and Kenya on similar school apostolate, has also been visiting schools in the northern part of the country.

  • Peace Corps helps IDP’s vulnerable kids

    THE horrors of being violently displaced in your country are multiple. You are only lucky to escape alive, for some of your neighbours, sometimes even family members did not. Those who fled Boko Haram attacks have experiened this, but there is more. Sometimes, those who survived have no parents, or are living with physical challenges.

    At the Aisha Buhari Special School for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and Vulnerable Children in Abuja, there is quite a number of these vulnerable children. For them, life can be quite an ordeal.

    But there was cause for cheer at the school when the Commandant of the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) Dickson Akoh visited bringing with him items worth thousands of naira.

    There are about 168 male children from various families in the school.

    They expressed joy and happiness that they could find shelter far away from home.

    Akoh, who showed love to the children, said it has been a corporate social responsibility of the PCN to engage in national advocacy that engender youth development and nation-building.

    Akoh went further that factors that bring about vulnerability of children vis-à-vis Internally Displaced Persons should be vehemently kicked against as every child deserves a home and the right to be loved.

    Represented by the Deputy Corps Commandant in charge of Finance, Omolola Ahmed, the PCN boss said: “pet projects are being embarked upon by first ladies of various states government but none can be compared or given reference to supporting vulnerable and under-privileged children who were displaced unconditionally, lost their parents and rendered homeless as that being embarked by the wife of the President, Hajia Ashia Buhari.

    “Her Excellency in this unalloyed magnanimity has taken the bold step to give home to the homeless, put food in the mouths of those without hands to provide for themselves, and ultimately give hope to the hopeless. In our view and that of the general public, it is widely said that posterity will never forget you.”

    It is also pertinent, Akoh said to point out that the corps has reached out to several charity homes and most recently the IDPs home at Durumi in the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT), Abuja.

    He acknowledged the efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration which has gone beyond the confines of fighting corruption, retrieving looted funds to making sure that youths are given the necessary platform to exhibit their God-given talents.

    Akoh prayed for Buhari to return in good health and vigor, adding,  “He will in recourse to the socio-economic advancement of our youths, speedily and convincingly assent to the Bill for an Act to establish the Nigeria Peace Corps.         Situated in Gwarinpa, the Principal of Hajia Aisha Buhari Special School for the Internally Displaced Persons, (IDPs) and Vulnerable Children, Ben Onwudinjo said the children who are victims of the Boko Haram insurgency hail from Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States and were selected from 14 IDP camps in FCT/Nasarawa States.

    Onwudinjo said the children depend on well-meaning Nigerians to survive.

    He disclosed that the: “wife of the President, Hajia Aisha Buhari has formally adopted the school as one of her pet projects, hence the official change of the name of the school to  Hajia Aisha Buhari Special School for the Internally Displaced Persons, (IDPs) and Vulnerable Children.

     

  • Nigeria to get $500m World Bank loan to assist out-of-school kids

    Nigeria to get $500m World Bank loan to assist out-of-school kids

    Nigeria will soon get a $500 million loan from the World Bank to assist out-of-school children, the bank’s Senior Education Specialist, Dr. Olatunde Adekola, has said.

    Adekola spoke in Sokoto yesterday when he led a five-man team to Governor Aminu Tambuwal.

    The loan will be given under World Bank’s‘Better Education-For-All (BEDA)’ Project.

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), quoting the bank’s official, said the project would focus on the northern parts to bolster the girl-child education.

    He said: “The project will be results-oriented, ensure that children are able to read and write.

    “This is to help the government to strengthen its service delivery mechanisms to children, girls, women and other vulnerable groups.

    “Most of the challenges in the country are education related and the five-year project is aimed at reversing the ugly trend.”

    The World Bank official, however, expressed satisfaction with the efforts by Tambuwal to develop the education sector in the state.

    Adekola hailed the state for allocating about 27 per cent of its budget to education in 2016 and 2017.

    He said: “The state government also deserves a pat on the back for ensuring the prompt payment of teachers’ salaries.

    “We have also noted an unlimited appetite by parents in the state for the education of their children.”

    Tambuwal promised to sustain the existing partnership between the bank and the state government.

    “We will continue to honour our own side of commitments to such agreements in terms of finances and other issues.

    “We have begun the process of creating an agency to be in charge of the education of the girl-child.

    “We will ensure the effective utilisation of the funds, to avoid any infractions,” the governor said.

  • ‘Take care of your kids’

    The police in Oyo State have decried the behaviour of some students of The Polytechnic, Ibadan and called on parents and guardians to ensure that they take good care of their wards.

    The students, led by the Student Union President, Oluwadamilola Peter Edema, marched on the police headquarters, Eleyele Ibadan and assaulted policemen.

    In a statement by the Command’s spokesperson, Adekunle Ajisebutu, parents and guardians were advised to caution their children.

    The command also warned the students and any other persons who participated in blocking major roads and causing apprehension and breach of the peace to avoid engaging in such unlawful behaviour.

    The statement reads: ”About 1.45 pm of February 10, a group of students invaded the police headquarters.

    On arrival at the gate, they pretended to have come to worship at the mosque hence they were allowed in. Instead of going to the mosque, they drove recklessly towards the commissioner’s office, singing solidarity ,war songs.

    “Some policemen who attempted to stop them were attacked.”

  • KSDT: KIDS SPEAK ON IMPORTANCE OF INTERNET

    THERE were educating moments on last week’s edition of the popular Children TV series, Kids Say the Darndest Things (KSDT) sponsored by Etisalat, as kids gave an insight on the importance of the internet in solving their home works.

    The edition showcased highlight from previous episodes of the show signaling the end of season two of the weekly children’s tonic. Kids in the highlights discussed the importance of internet availability in meeting up with submission of their various assignments and knowledge development.

    The unscripted kids show as usual became very funny when the show host, Tony Okungbowa asked children where chinchin got its name? The children responded that the name chinchin was derived from our chin, the way we chew things thrown into the mouth on daily basis.

    Another guest on the show, a 3-year-old boy, Corbing Ogunenye whose responses created a funny encounter when he was asked by the show host, Tony, on how his parent deal with him when he misbehaves? He said Mummy sends him to naughty corner and when he was asked to dramatize what the naughty corner look like? Corbing told the show host that he was not his mother which robs him the power to punish him.

    Other segment of the show featured Faith Adebayo, a nine-year-old drummer boy who played a drum set professionally. Also, three set of identical twins were also featured and they opined that their mothers had twins as a result of eating too much food and too much consumption of water.

    Damilola Omololu, a nine-year-old boy expressed his desire to buy a luxurious stretch limousine that can seat up to twenty people which can be used to move his family members around the city. He said he was not going to have more than one wife but cannot say the exact number of children he planned to give birth to.

  • ‘Thank you for helping our kids’

    ‘Thank you for helping our kids’

    The people of Omu-Aran and its environs in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State have not hidden their satisfaction when 250 of their children were given scholarship awards.

    These days of recession and little cash in circulation, most parents have found it tough meeting their financial obligations. That was why residents of Omu-Aran adjoining areas, whose children in secondary schools got the facility, wasted no time in expressing their joy.

    Their benefactor was the Bayo and Bunmi Foundation.

    President, Omu-Aran Descendants Association (ODA), Chief Peter Oyinloye said he was happy and honoured by the gesture.

    Chief Oyinloye said, “I feel happy and greatly honoured to God that an indigene of this town is able to come out and give scholarship to not only the sons and daughters of Omu-Aran but many in Irepodun Local Government Area.

    This is an act of magnanimity. It is a universal dictum that education is the currency of the world and for the sponsor to have started in this direction, we are very grateful to him. This is a call to all other philanthropists not only sons and daughters of Omu-Aran but to all Kwarans and Nigerians as a whole that instead of wasting our money on unprofitable ventures, we should concentrate on the development of our children.

    “By doing this there will be development. Lack of knowledge leads to destruction, but if people have knowledge there will be rapid socio-economic development.

    “We are call on other people that are well-to-do to please come out and assist the development of education in our community. Government cannot do everything. We can also assist government where government is lagging behind.”

    To Oludopo of Oke-Iya Ipo, Oba Saheed Giwa Opadoye words are not enough to convey his heavy load of gratitude.

    “I am very impressed by the foundation’s gesture. If such has been happening indigent children in the local government would have had challenges getting education.

    “I implore the well-to-do in our local government to take a cue from this foundation by assisting the less-privileged in our midst,” he said.

    Also commenting, Alapa of Ilu-Omido, Oba John Adegboyega Adeyemi, said he was initially skeptical when they brought the forms of the scholarship to his domain.

    He added that “but when about two days ago, I received a call that one of my subjects had been picked for the scholarship it dawned on me that after all it is not a deception.

    “I must appreciate the leadership of the foundation for its magnanimity. It is hard to believe that in the Nigeria of today somebody could still lend a helping hand to the needy in the society.

    “This should be an encouragement to others to assist their neighbours. It is biblical to be magnanimous to one’s neighbours.”

    The sponsor and former governorship aspirant in Kwara state, Mr. Sunday Babalola said the gesture does not any political undercurrents.

    He said that the gesture is part of his own contributions to societal wellbeing and development of the citizens of my state.

    He said, “This gesture is not driven by any political ambition or consideration, but it is in furtherance of my commitment to human capital development as a potent strategy to address hardship, poverty, unemployment and crime.

    “My wife and I are grateful to God for giving us the opportunity, enablement and grace for compassion to offer scholarships to secondary and tertiary institution pupils/students. We are also highly delighted with your esteemed presence at this second edition of this scholarship award program. .

    “It could be recalled that last year, a total number of 140 pupils/students from secondary schools, polytechnics and universities were awarded the scholarship by this Foundation for citizens of Omu Aran.

    “The report by UNESCO few years back that over 10 million Nigerian children were out of school was sad and devastating. With the current economic recession where many jobs have been lost and businesses shut down, it is not in doubt that the figure would have increased highly by now.

    “This is not a good tale in our education sector, as education is the life-wire and development stimulus of every individual and nation.”

    Engr. Babalola bemoaned the state of dilapidation of infrastructure in the state educational institutions adding that, “it is a common sight in this state, many classrooms with broken windows, doors and even chairs and desks, that pose dangers to the occupants being used by our children, teachers and other educational workers. Some of the classrooms, do not even have desks; compelling our students to sit on bare-floor or even come with their chairs and desks from school. Such development in this 21st century is retrogressive and must be addressed.

  • Indomie rewards kids with N6 million

    Indomie rewards kids with N6 million

    Dufil Prima Foods Plc, makers of Indomie Instant Noodles, has rewarded three outstanding children who emerged winners of this year’s Indomie Independence Awards, with the sum or N6 million at this year’s Indomie Independence Day Award ceremony held in Lagos.

    The grand event which witnessed a large turnout of dignitaries, saw some renowned personalities like the Group Managing Director, First Bank, Bisi Onasanya; Senator Gbenga Ashafa; Chairman Masandola Group, Chief Bode Akindele, among others.

    These personalities, in lending support to the children and indomie, added glamour to the event by donating N2.25million, N500,000, and N1million.

    The Indomie Independence Day Award for Heroes of Nigeria is a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of Dufil Prima Foods Plc, makers of Indomie Instant Noodles and is geared towards recognising children of 15 years and below who have exhibited extraordinary acts of heroism in the face of danger or societal challenge which have sometimes brought them injury.

    While delivering the keynote address at the event, the Executive Director, Corona Schools, Mrs. Olufunto Igun, said: “The future of any nation or entity lies heavily on the children, whatever legacy we pass on, whether good or bad could make or mar us as a nation. We, therefore, must rise up to our responsibility as parents, guardians, schools, and government to ensure that the right values are inculcated in the children.”

    Addressing the winners as “the salvation for the nation’s future and the economy,” she charged more organisations to toe the line of Dufil Prima Foods by also contributing their own quota to ensure a more secure and blissful future for our kids.

    The Group Managing Director, Dufil Prima Foods, Mr. Deepak Singhal, expressed delight at the success of the event.  “Our motivation rests firmly on the fact that a lot of kids are out there who do the extraordinary day- by-day; they are the unsung heroes who have never been celebrated. That is why we have resolved that every year we would not relent in our search all around Nigeria for unique acts of bravery, worthy of celebration,” he said.

    The award, which is the seventh edition, produced such winners as 15-year-old Aniema Udokang from Cross River, for his assistance in saving an accident victim on IBB way in Calabar; 14-year-old Semiya Modashiru helped save the lives of two babies by apprehending and confronting a kidnapper at a bus garage in Ogijo, while 10-year-old Bassey Itam helped a boy bitten by a snake.

    The winners in the first, second and third categories went home with N1,000,000, N750,000, and N500,000 worth of scholarship.