The Nigerian adaptation of American children’s comedy series, Kids Say the Darndest Things, will hit local television screens next Sunday. The first edition will be aired on AIT Channel 21 and DSTV Channel 253 to celebrate the Father’s Day. The show is sponsored by Etisalat Nigeria through its Cliqlite platform, a learning and development plan for children.
At its premiere, which held last Sunday at the Silverbird Galleria, the sponsors said the show was premised on belief that children often respond to live questions in the most unexpected and amusing ways. The programme, which will be hosted by Tony Okungbowa, would regularly have children between the ages of two and 10 years as participants.
The Head of Sponsorship and Events, Etisalat Nigeria, Ms Modupe Thani, said: “Etisalat is sponsoring the show because it recognises the importance of education, learning and innovation in the development of children. The show will offer Nigerian children the opportunity to communicate and talk better to express themselves among their peers.”
She said the show confirmed the mobile telecommunication company’s belief in making the environments in which it is operating peaceful and sustainable through life-changing products and services.
The show’s Executive Producer, Chichi Nwoko, said the TV series would be a fantastic show that would be delightful to children and adults, stressing that Nigerians would be amazed at the level of knowledge children possess.
Nwoko said: “We are excited that a show of this magnitude, which celebrates our children and focuses on family is now in Nigeria. Our key objective is to deliver top-quality family entertainment television show.”
Parents of the children who attended the audition for the show hailed the initiative, saying they looked forward to an entertaining show that will build families and the society.
Dear Harriet, I am so worried about my children. I feel they are only safe when I am around them. What is the effect of overprotection on children. How does it affect their personality development? Please, I need to know.
Mrs Nkechi D., Port Harcourt.
In most cases, overprotective parents assume that they are doing their children a lot of good by keeping them safe without noticing that this parenting style has severe effects on their children, such as robbing them the essential life skills that they need in order to have a healthy personality and to face life problems. One of the main tasks of parenting is to encourage enough confidence and capabilities in a child to equip him or her to leave home and function independently of mum and dad when he or she reaches adulthood, but over protectiveness is a hesitation or inability to do that.
However, it is often hard to determine the exact dimension of over protectiveness anyway. Several ways this can be shown are as follows:
•Parents who will not allow their children out of their sight, except at school and perhaps at church or mosque.
•Parents who find it hard to allow teens to grow, relate to their teenagers very similarly to the way they relate to their eight-year old or toddler for instance.
•Parents who screen or monitor their teenagers’ phone calls
•Parents who consistently refuse permission for teenagers to do things considered age appropriate by other reasonable parents.
•Parent who exhibit a determination to protect the child from harm.
•Parents who offer oversight of even the smallest details in the teen’s life.
•Parents whose rules are rigid and are equally non-negotiable.
•Parents who seem to have difficulty trusting the young person.
The above, however, are highly subjective measurements of overprotectiveness. The most reasonable parents, for instance, will sometimes refuse permission for his son or daughter to do things that other reasonable parents consider appropriate. Generally speaking, however, the above tendencies are typical of overprotective parents. Notwithstanding, there are different reasons parents react in an overprotective manner. Such action may be founded upon one or more of the following causes.
Fear: It is a common factor among overprotective parents. Today’s world is a frightening place in which to raise children. Many parents worry about their children’s vulnerability to the dangers they see featured on the news. Over protective parents are sometimes fearful to an irrational degree. Don’t get me wrong. A certain amount of fear for children’s safety is normal and healthy, but allowing exaggerated fears to prevent youth from engaging in the normal activities of their peers can be harmful.
Sibling’s rebellious behaviour: Overprotectiveness may also be as a result of failure with an older child. For example, Kate gave her parents every reason to trust her and allow her to attend night parties with her school friends because her older sister’s first experience with smoking and drinking took place at night parties. Kate’s parents refused to allow her to attend similar parties. For fear that Kate would follow in her sister’s footsteps. Jane is not the same sort of person her sister is, but she nonetheless had to pay for her sibling’s action.
Parents’ past: If one or both parents were rebellious in their childhood or adolescence, they may respond by determining that they will prevent their child from making similar choices. Parenting styles are typically a reflection of or a reaction to the way we were raised.
The child’s misbehaviour or shortcoming: If a parent views a child as immature, incapable, or limited by physical, mental, or developmental challenge, he may respond by becoming overly protective. Indeed, at some levels, there is a need to protect such a child. However, an overprotective parent will usually resort to counterproductive control and manipulation rather than healthy support and encouragement based on an understanding of the child’s potential to develop and mature. Extra parental precautions may indeed be required for certain children, but there must still be a balance between ensuring safety and allowing our children to try new things and develop new capabilities.
Lack of relationship: Many parents try to lay down rules without first establishing a real relationship with their children. Mum and dad may see their parental role as primarily that of a judge or a police officer, they focus on rules and may measure how well they are doing by how many rules they have established and how well the children adhere to those rules. Such parents not knowing how to form and nurture a real relationship may rely on the good behaviour of a child to bolster the parent’s own relationship needs a poor and unfulfilling substitute of course.
Parental loss or emotional needs: Sometimes mothers, for example, who feel unfulfilled in their relationships with spouses will divert their pain by focusing obsessively on their child or children. (This can also be true of fathers though that is less common). Some parents become overprotective in an effort to fill their own emotional needs. They are afraid that if they lose the child, their own love needs will be unmet. They may also believe that they are protecting the child from a father’s or mother’s lack of involvement.
Moreover, the effect of overprotection is that it sends an unconscious message to the child, telling him or her that the world is not a safe place. This can also affect a child’s self-esteem as a result of preventing the child from taking charge he or she starts to think that he is not capable of facing life on his or her own and so the self-esteem will start to deteriorate, if not properly handle. In addition, the child will not attend new things that he or she is not familiar because it will appear unsafe to him or her. Anger, depression and rebellion are also another effects of overprotection.
Others are emotional withdrawal, increase in dependency, eating disorder and panic disorder. As parents, as we guide our children through the right path of life, we should let them make their mistakes as children and learn from them. They need the opportunity to develop the tough skin that will get them through adulthood. For a child to be self confident, trustworthy, we need to allow them solve certain problems on their own. Discuss issues with them, but still allow them to think on their own. Let them explore themselves, for example, writing home work for a child is not helping the child in anyway. They should be allowed to figure out issues themselves, knowing their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, it is good to care, love our children, but also let them explore the world, while keeping an eye on them.
Harriet ogbobine is a counselor and a motivational speaker. Send your questions and suggestions to her on bineharriet@gmail.com or txt message only 08023058805. You can also follow her on twitter: @bineharrietj
It was not sweets and music. On Children’s Day, kids in Gbaupe community in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) got books, free health care and, of course, food and lots of other valuables.
They had a non-governmental organisation (NGO) SAM Empowerment Foundation (SEF) to thank for that.
The organisation launched a multi-million naira empowerment programme in the community with a message that encouraged the children to live exemplary lives in their community.
Founder of SEF Dr. Aishat Achimugu said that the dream of every parent is to see their children excelling in various endeavours. She also urged the children to adhere to societal values as a yardstick to a brighter future.
She said, “Children are gifts from God. We have the responsibility to cater for their needs and to also nurture them to maturity. We have come today as a special day to celebrate with you all in our own little way. I urge you all to be exemplary in your studies in order to be better citizens of this great country tomorrow.”
In the course of the visit, the NGO medical personnel conducted medical screening and treatment on some members of the community with the promise to equip the Gbaupe Community Health centre to meet the modern standard.
Responding, the Etsu of Gbaupe, Mallam Danjuma Gareje commended the gesture of SAM Foundation for reaching out to the community at a time the people are clamouring for government attention in the areas of health, energy supply, education and accessible roads. Gareje assured that the items distributed will be channeled judiciously to meet it purposes while calling on government not to relent in the task of giving back to the people the dividend of democracy by alleviating the plight of the less privilege in the society.
There are side attractions from the children, like news casting, cultural and comical display, match pass, music interlude, dancing, cutting of cake, women empowerment and many more.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has urged school bus drivers to be safety conscious and make the roads safe for users, especially pupils.
At the third United Nations Road Safety Week, which ended last Sunday, the agency said it was worrisome that 500 children are killed daily globally.
Speaking on the theme: “Children and road safety” at the Ogun State Sector Command headquarters in Abeokuta, the Sector Commander, Adegoke Adetunji, said the growing rate of child fatalities informed the UN’s directive to organise a child road safety week to draw attention to the need to keep the roads safe for children. The event, he noted, was organised across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
It was also a part of the UN’s decade of action on road safety, which mandated all member-nation to reduce the rate of road traffic crashes (RTC) as well as fatalities to 20 percent by year 2020.
Adetunji said the one-week campaign was to enlighten the public on the need to consider children’s safety on roads.
He said: “Children are the leaders of tomorrow and the future of a nation. Thousands of them are being killed and deformed on the roads around the world every day, because of what the elderly ones do or fail to do when they are behind the wheels.”
A nation that desires a better future must protect its children, he said, adding that there is need for road discipline for children’s sake.
He said road indiscipline exposes children to dangers and many children may not have the chance to grow old as they may be involved in fatal accident.
He appealed to parents, drivers and mototcyclists to be safety conscious whenever they are driving close to school premises or wherever children can easily be found, so that the roads can be made safe for them.
Adegoke urged parents to consider children’s safety while travelling, saying it is wrong to allow children between ages one and 12 months to sit in front of a car.
“Most parents/drivers allow minors to sit in front of a vehicle; this is abnormal and very bad. Such a parent, he said is exposing the child to a grave danger in case of any crashes. He noted that parents must always use a baby car seat for their minors, for him/her to be adequately protected in case of any crash because children are more prone to injuries or being killed whenever accident occur on the road.”
“Parents should stop putting their children on the lap or chest while driving; this, he said, is the easiest way of exposing children to crashes. It is better for a child to cry than sending him/her to an early grave,” Adegoke said.
The FRSC boss urged parents to always use the safety lock when on motion and restrain them from playing with it. “Children are innocent, they don’t know anything, but it is the duty of the parents to protect them against dangers,” he added.
He appealed to Nigeria Union of Teachers to assist in spreading this children road safety proclamation among the pupils, parents and the public.
Adegoke urged school proprietors to comply with the new school bus designs as approved by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).
He advised parents/guardians and school owners to always ensure the safety of their children/wards from home to school and back, urging them to avoid putting their children on okada.
He also warned the parents against the use of pick-up vans to convey children to school, imploring proprietors to comply with the guidelines to avoid arrest when enforcement begins.
At the camps where about 800,000 displaced children are sheltering across the North, living conditions are as dreadful as the kids’ future is bleak. TONY AKOWE and YUSUFU AMINU IDEGU report
•Some of the displaced children in a makeshift classroom
The children are scattered all over the North, all 800,000 of them, in camps which offer little relief. Food is insufficient. Sleeping places are unspeakably bad. A feeling of neglect hangs over the camps.
Six-year-old Mubarak Adamu, one of the children at the Internally Displaced Persons camp at Durumi II in Abuja, reads his ABCs with passion. He is probably looking forward to growing up and becoming a leader someday. Like many other children in the camp and others across the region, Mubarak may never fulfil that dream.
Why?
He cannot go to a formal school because of Boko Haram insurgents who chased him and others away from their homes in Borno State. He is exposed to harsh living conditions in the uncompleted two-storey building that has served as his home for several months since they moved to Abuja from Bama in Borno State. He is forced to sleep on a bare hard floor with his mother’s wrapper serving as his bed. The environment he plays in is not habitable at all with dirt all over the place, and the smell of human waste rife.
Mubarak, like many of the other children at the camp, is lucky, though, to have volunteers who teach him and some others the basics of education.
Hafsat Ahmed, Halima Isa and Tanko battle to teach the children even though they don’t have teaching aids. Unfortunately in spite of the harsh living conditions, they are also harassed and intimidated by security men who constantly raid their camps.
One of the leaders of the IDPs, Zubairu Mohammed who said that they have been abandoned by government, lamented that their children are exposed to health hazards. He said that there are serious health and other challenges in the camp, adding that their children are mostly affected. According to him, there are about 40 children who urgently need medical attention which they cannot afford.
He said security personnel especially the military often come to arrest people, claiming they are criminals. This is traumatising, he said, especially for the women and children at a time when they have lost loved ones to the insurgency.
During a recent visit to the camp to present relief materials, an official of the Buhari Support Organisation, Hajia Hanatu Akilu condemned government neglect of the IDPs.
Hajia Akilu, who was close to tears due to the deplorable conditions under which the children live, said they decided to donate the food items when they discovered that the children were malnourished.
She said, “We have been here before on a medical mission and we discovered that some of the babies were malnourished and we decided to bring this small food. It is not really about the food but for the world to see how these people are suffering. We have them in other settlements across the city. I was at NEMA [National Emergency Management Agency] office and they were saying that they don’t have camps for them because they were not in the state capital. The point is, if we have people like this, it does not matter where they are. The government should provide facilities for them. We should have proper camping for refugees; we should make adequate provision for their children, their health care because we can’t just leave them like this. They have suffered serious trauma, some of them have seen their family members being slain. Some of them have horrible stories of walking long distances and yet, like one of them said, they are not being treated like Nigerians. We just can’t just sit back and watch. We all have to be alive to our responsibilities”.
Things are better for displaced children in Kano. The state government has a credible educational intervention programme for them. Known as the Borno Orphans Model Boarding Primary School, Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso said the school was constructed under the Special Intervention Programme for orphaned children affected by the insurgency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.
Kwankwaso said, “The Special Intervention Programme is aimed at taking up full responsibilities of 100 children, who are between the ages of five and six whose parents are either dead, displaced or lost as a result of the insurgency”.
He assured that the state government will take care of the children’s education, training, upbringing, feeding, clothing, security, health care and accommodation. He also said the government would continue to look after the children until they complete their basic education, the security situation in the states affected by the insurgency improves and when it is safe for them to return home. The governor who is heading for the senate in the in lying government said His attention was drawn to the plight of the children, who have been deprived of parental care and concern as a result of the security challenges in the Northeast by NEMA and other concerned individuals. He urged the federal and state governments and well-meaning individuals and groups to come to the aid of the orphans to make their lives more meaningful.
Kwankwaso is not only dealing with the educational needs of the children, but their health requirements also. He said the state Commissioner for Health has been directed to appraise the medical condition of each of the pupils with a view to identifying those that need special medical care for necessary action.
There are about 1000 children at the Jos camp. Like their counterparts in Kano, life is not as dreadful as it is in several other places but they have the NGOs, not the government, to thank for that.
They and their parents worry about their destroyed homes, so even as federal troops exult over recaptured villages, the IDPs remain sullen. Thus, the camps which were supposed to provide temporary shelter have become their permanent homes.
The ideology of Boko Haram is to stop Nigerians from acquiring Western education, and to that extent, the insurgents have almost succeeded in the Northeast. The rampaging insurgents have not only destroyed homes in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, but have also wiped out schools.
The Jos camps host over 2000 people from 132 families, all of whom are primarily concerned about survival, not schooling for their children.
Some of the displaced persons are hosted by a Jos-based non-governmental organisation known as Stefanos Foundation, which is involved in human rights, advocacy, relief and rehabilitation of victims of the continuous violence in the North. Stefanos has been working in the field since 2002; the organization responded to distress calls for help by the victims who have come to trust that the organisation is able to find help for them.
Programme Manager of the foundation, Mr. Mark Lipdo said, “From August 2014, many displaced persons began to migrate to Jos in trickles and were accommodated in private homes but there came a time that they became too many to accommodate, hence the organisation began a search for a property that can be used to establish an IDP camp. There are more than four IDPs camps in Plateau State.”
As at December 2014, Plateau State was hosting 35,000 IDPs. The figure was released by Audu Yohanna, the North Central Zonal Information Officer of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
A comprehensive assessment of the IDPs carried out by NEMA indicates that the IDPs are camping in different locations across five local government areas of Plateau State. In Wase, Kanam, Shendam and Mikan local government areas, 11,000 IDPs from Taraba State are camping in different locations across the four Local Government Areas. From Adamawa State, 24,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are camping in different locations across Jos North and Jos South Local Government Areas of the state”.
The North Central Zonal Office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) conducted the needs assessment of the IDPs and sent its report to the Director General of the Agency for release of relief materials to ameliorate the situation of the IDPs. NEMA also confirmed that the IDPs are mostly are women and children who fled the troubled States.
But the government relief materials never came, the IDPs rather depends on charitable individuals and other NGOs around the country. Mr. Lipdo said, “The IDPs need food, even if it is once a day, they need good shelter, at least to protect them from the harsh cold weather of Jos. They need clothes to cover their skin to differentiate them from mental health patients. Most importantly, the IDPs are in dire need of medical care.”
Another non-governmental organisation known as Tina Bawa Ministry International came to the camp in Jos to offer free medical care to the IDPs particularly little children.
There were cases of pneumonia, malaria, hepatitis, but it was also discovered that most of the male children in the camp were not circumcised at infancy. Most of them now between the age of five and 12 had to undergo the procedure at the camp.
The coordinator of Tina Bawa Ministry International, Rev Mrs. Tina Bawa, who sponsored the free medical outreach said, “The ministry is a church run by myself and my husband. But like a non-governmental organization, we have program for the welfare of the less privilege especially children and women. I was moved when I was told of the plight of the women and children in this camp. We have the penchant for helping vulnerable women and children of this nature, and we have done it in so many places across the country. It is a pity that in all crisis situation, women and children suffers the consequences. This is what is going on this camp; these innocent children have been driven out of their homes for no fault of theirs. Now a Good Samaritan assembled the IDPs in camps for government to take over their responsibility. But as you can see, government has turned their attention away from these people.”
After spending five months at the camp with no hope of rehabilitation of the IDPs by government, the NGO organised a makeshift school for children of the displaced to have some elementary education. Mr. Lipdo, Programme Manager of the foundation said, “I have taken record of at least 650 children in the camp, and since they don’t have hope of going back to their homes so soon, it is good we organise a school for them in the camp, if not the camp will be so boring and life will have no meaning to these children.
The NGO has procured some instructional materials like textbooks, exercise books, chalkboard for the takeoff of school lessons for the children. Like in the regular school, there are those in nursery and some in primary. Some teachers have volunteered to render service, some recruited by the NGO to teach the children. Lessons have since commenced in the camp.
NEMA was once quoted as saying that it is accommodating about 6000 children in its internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in Adamawa State with about 760 of the children coming to the camp on their own, meaning that their parents either died in the attacks on their communities by insurgents or they were abandoned by their parents out of frustration.
The agency also claimed that children were the most victims of the attacks. Some managed to escape, while many others were killed. For those who escaped, another hurdle awaited them in the form of daily survival. While children are not the only ones displaced as a result of the attacks, their situation is the most disturbing. There are reports of children who die from physical exertion, hunger and thirst while fleeing insurgents’ attacks. It is no news that children are usually among the worst hit in crisis situations. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (UNOCHA) said that of the 300,000 IDPs in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, 70 per cent of them are women and children who fled their homes in early 2013.
HELLO Harriet, I am worried about my children and their use of the internet. Please, give us tips on ways to protect our children from the evils of the internet. Thanks. Mrs. Akinola, Lagos.
Children this day live their lives on the internet, especially the youths, through mobile phones, laptops, desktops, ipads and game consoles. Don’t get me wrong. The use of the internet has its advantage and disadvantages. Homework and research in schools today are internet based. The use of the internet has helped a lot in the communication, education and entertainment areas. But it can also pose as a dangerous zone for children because it exposes children to disturbing images and information, sexual abuse, verbal abuse and cyber bulling. Cyber bulling is a form of bulling that occurs, using electronic devices whether on gaming sites ( children playing internet games with other people who are connected) or on mobile phones, social network sites, text messages and chats. It could be a mean text message or e-mail, rumours posted on social networking sites and embarrassing pictures or videos. The effect can be devastating for children and youths. The sad part is that in most cases, it can be very difficult to trace the bully. If it is a picture that has been sent, it is always very difficult to delete. The internet is such a big and open world that anybody can input anything in it. As a result, a lot of children have been hurt. Some are experiencing cyber bulling, sexual abuse and verbal abuse at present. Trust me, the motive of parents in providing these gadgets is to aid children and not to harm them. So, it is our responsibility to know how to keep them safe on line. Some parents feel they don’t really understand how the internet works and that their children know more than them, forgetting that technology changes on a day-to-day basis and the best way to stay informed is to get involved (understand the internet and how it works). Sometimes sit with your children, tell them to show you what they are doing and how it works.
There are some safety guides that parents should discuss with their children on the use of internet. Home boundaries on the use of internet must be put in place. State it in clear terms to the children the sites they can visit and the ones that they are not allowed to visit when they are online. The cyber bulling should be talked about seriously because the best way to avoid or stop bullying on line is actually working together with your children by encouraging them to tell you once somebody starts bulling them. Encourage your children to block the bullies, or delete their contacts, but not to destroy the evidence, if it is a text message, in case they have to trace the identity of the bully. If the bully is from a school, it will be easy for the authority to take action. For younger children, the internet should not be installed in their phones until they are older. The home desktop or lap top should be place in an open place in the house for easy checks, while occasionally parents should ask for their children’s laptops and ipads to see the sites their children have been visiting. Assure and support your children, show them love, so they don’t start seeking love on the internet, especially the ones who go on the internet to socialise. Explain to them that there are many who pretend to be what they are not. Tell them they are in chat rooms and online games. As a result, they should be very careful of the people they add as friends and be mindful of the information they share out there. Educate them about friends online; they should not accept a friend’s friend as their friend online. Remind your children to think before putting out their pictures, videos, or comments on the internet because anyone can have access to it. All their activities are put out there for everyone to read and this is dangerous. The way forward is for parents to keep talking to their children about the danger out there on the internet, so a collaborating conversation will help to keep children safe on the internet.
Furthermore, make sure that your children understand that they should never arrange to see any one they only know on the internet. Discourage them from chatting with strangers. Parents should talk to their children about relationship, so that when they stumble on pornographic images on the internet, they will understand that it is not applicable in the real world. In spite of the above, parents can also install child protection/ parental control devices on their children’s computers in order to block certain sites that are inappropriate. These sites can be downloaded on the internet for free:
Norton online family: This is free software that allows parents monitor the websites their children visit, as well as what they search for online and who they chat with. Parents can have a time set for children on how long they can be on line, and even see all their children’s activities and e-mails.
Windows live family safety: This is Microsoft’s free parental control software; it is part of windows live essentials package that includes MSM messenger and Microsoft’s webmail client. Users can block specific sites and applications, as well as controlling how long their children can use the computers.
AVG family safety: This software allows parents to create profiles for each child; it can also be adjusted as the child gets older. The software blocks inappropriate content like pornographic sites and so on. Others are K9 Web Protection 4.0.296, PG Surfer.
Finally, as parents, we should work close with the school because it is important that we know the policy they have in place on the use of technology in school. The safety of our children on the internet must be emphasised both at home and in school.
Harriet Ogbobine is a counselor and a motivational speaker. Send your questions and suggestions to her on bineharriet@gmail.com or txt message only 08023058805. You can also follow her on twitter; @bineharriet.
Ensuring that this holiday period is not entirely a playful time for kids, pay TV company, Gotv, has evolved educative programming over the Easter weekend and throughout the month of April, to keep children absorbed.
GOtv’s General Manager, Elizabeth Amkpa, said the variety of children’s programmes on the channel are meant to entertain its younger audiences, while also enabling them to channel their energies to learning.
According to Amkpa, “From the Kids’ Choice Awards on Nickelodeon which will air on the 1st of April to loads of movies at Easter, and other great shows, kids are in for an unbelievable viewing experience this month.”
She added that “Kids will also be enchanted by the famous fairy tale princess, Cinderella on Disney Junior. Airing of the three-part movie will begin on 12 April. Cinderella 2: Dreams Come Truewill follow on 19 April and finally, Cinderella 3: A Twist in Time on 26 April,” she pointed out.
With over 40 channels containing news, music, movies, sports, religious and children’s programming, GOtv caters to a variety of viewing tastes within the family.
But for providence, a technician would have been Iynched in Lagos last weekend by a mob that thought he abducted the eight children in his bus.
Gabriel Chima’s son was among the children, his explanation that he did not kidnap the boys was ignored by the mob.
His nose was bruised and his bus vandalised.
The incident occurred in Ijegun, Lagos, about 6pm last Friday when he went out the children to deliver some goods.
Recounting his ordeal at the Isheri-Oshun Police Station, Chima, whose shop is on Prince Road, Tunde Akinsola Street, Ijegun, said he agreed to assist another shop owner Charles Asoku, to deliver cartons of whitening liquid at Ijegun market.
His words: “It was my own bus and whenever business is dull, I go out in the evenings, plying Jakande Gate and Ijegun. I would go a few rounds before retiring home. These days, PHCN has been dealing with us in the area generally and I have to make ends meet. When my neighbour told me to assist him, I accepted as I have been doing for him and some others before. I did not suspect I was wrong or that the children’s coming with us that day was a disaster in waiting.”
He said while packing the cartons inside the bus, his son and seven of his friends joined in the packing and “after we finished, my son jumped into the bus, insisting on following me”.
Chima said: “When I saw that his friends who had worked with him equally came into the bus, I did not feel like disallowing them. We went out together. We had delivered about 50 cartons of the liquid substance at a place and was going to the second for the remaining seven when the police stopped me for a check”.
He said it was while talking with the police that some hoodlums emerged from nowhere, calling him “a kidnapper who the police should not be allowed to take away and later released as they usually do”.
The mob, he said, ignored his explanation that he is not a kidnapper, adding: “They punched me severally, in the process of which I lost my phone and some amount of money.
“I told them (the police) the seven boys were friends of my own son who was in the bus. But before the police could allow me to go, these boys came from nowhere, slapping and beating me. They almost took control if not for the bravery of the police.
“When the two officers could not control the situation, they called for additional men from the Isheri-Oshun Police Station who soon came, firing bullets into the air and releasing tear gas canisters. If the police had not done this, today I should be a dead man. The hoodlums really wanted to lynch a kidnapper,” he added.
Sources, however, said Chima initially refused to stop for a search when the police flagged him down.
The source said: “The man caused all that happened. The report I had was that he refused to stop when the police stopped him. This caused some suspicion and raised concerns. It was actually this development that attracted the hoodlums who almost lynched him”.
Clarifying that no one had been arrested in connection with the attack, the source warned the people against flouting police orders, especially at check points.
“Why will anyone not stop when ordered to do so? There are so many dangers in it. If this man had been lynched, he would have shared in the blame, although it is wrong for people to take laws into their hands as well,” the officer said.
Some lasting impressions may have been made on the mind of eight-year-old Jane Ikwoaku from Ochuche in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State. It was at a party hosted annually for children since the past 15 years.
At the event, the children looked quite happy with their hosts, sharing food and drinks with Dr Pamela Dubem Obaze, wife of former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters in the administration of former governor, Peter Obi.
At the party, held in their riverside Umuodu-Ochuche country home, no fewer than 3,000 children came and dined with the Obazes.
Also, women who accompanied their children, and widows, went home with lots of gifts, including wrappers, bags of rice, among others.
The party, introduced one and a half decades back by Obaze’s mother Mrs. Rose Mary Omuluzua who died some years back, started as a family thanksgiving for all the Lord did for them.
Children ever since have been looking forward to it, for it offers them an opprotunity to meet their peers, share things in common and generally have a good time. The Obazes routinely oblige, sending them back home with joy in their hearts.
The couple had been together after their marriage for years without an issue, but when God answered their prayers, they had a set of quadruplets on their hands two years ago.
The children were all in a happy mood throughout the party which lasted for five hours singing, dancing and clapping.
The Obazes’ bundle of joy who stayed with their fellow children were Ekenechukwu, Chinazaekpere, Chukwudalu and Chukwudumebi, three girls, one boy.
One of the children who spoke with the Nation, feeling shy, also eight year old Chukwunonso Odika thanked God for the party, adding that they were given lots of gifts by the hosts.
According to him, “I am happy to be here with my fellow children and I hope to come back here again; we thank our Mummy and Daddy and we are begging them to continue the party for us”
The Nation further gathered that the party which initially was meant for the people of Ogbaru has extended to other local government areas like Anambra East, Anambra West, Onitsha North, Onitsha South and Ayamelum.
The husband of the host, Chief Dubem Obaze popularly known and addressed by his people as (Ifeakachi) nothing pass God, told The Nation that it is an annual event and will continue like that so far there is life.
With the caliber of persons especially, women that attended the event, and kinds of gifts that were shared, the Nation thought it was done under the auspices of a non-governmental organisation (NGO).
Some of the items for the children included scrabbles, Y-pad cases, magnetic learning kit, pencils, pens, assorted bundles of exercise books and many more toys.
However, the Chief host of the party, Dr. Mrs Pamela Obaze, told the Nation that some people see it differently, while some others see it as politically motivated.
“If it is politically motivated, it will not be for the children who are between one and 13 years, who have no electoral value, it would have been for the adults”.
“What I am doing is just a way of saying thank you to God for keeping us alive and lifting my family from sorrow to happiness, it was just not easy for my family”
“So, this is giving back to the society, appreciating the work of God and I believe that God will continue to give us the strength and the means to continue such party for the children”
“Yes, it is an annual event, but I believe that the memory of this will go a long way in their hearts and minds because they are the leaders of tomorrow” Mrs. Obaze said
One of the women who helped in organizing the party for the children, Mrs Stella Otuku, told the Nation that so far there is life, there is hope, adding that it is good to show the children the right part to follow as tomorrow’s leaders.
“The woman took over the event from the husband’s mother after her death and she has continued to make the children happy every festive period and what used to be Ogbaru party has gone beyond the area” Mrs Otuku said.
Raliat Abdulsalam is a business analyst and accountant with over 14 years of varied work experience in the oil and gas sector, Information Technology sector and in the civil service where she worked at the Federal Capital Territory Water Board. She is currently the Operations Director of RT Independent Oil & Amp; Energy Marketing Company Limited, an indigenous oil marketing company, as well as Managing Partner of RHS Automated Logistics, a firm involved in the downstream product marketing and distribution in the oil sector. In this interview with Yetunde Oladeinde, she talks about life in business, motivation, as well as her passion for developing young talents in sports and the arts.
Tell us about your talent show
My love for community development and giving back to the society made me to start an initiative for children involved with football as a sport and it is called the Lekki Junior Strikers Academy. This organisation reaches out to both the privileged and the underprivileged children from ages four to 15 across Lekki. We started with very few children but have grown to fifty children, and it is currently searching for an affiliation to an international football club to ensure the continuity of training for the very skilled kids who want to be professional football players.
Kiddies Talent Show is a show that not only searches for talent but nurtures the talents.
It’s a show that has never been done in this country. I am not saying that there have not been other talent shows for children but this is different.
While it’s a talent show based on kids, but it’s also based on kids with their different abilities and different talents or innate abilities that every child has. It deals with music, arts: performing arts and theoretical art like painting, drawing, hand tricks, craft and comedy.
In fact, everything that the child has which most of us overlook as parents. We also look out for the oratory skills in every child; that is children that are imaginative enough to tell stories and act it out, which is a huge talent. These are kids that end up becoming artist, work in radio stations and pick people’s imaginations; so these are the things we are looking at because we don’t want to restrict the child to traditional talents which is already known.
We are looking at alternative talents that every child has, but parents or the economy are not looking at to promote. Today, because music and acting is reigning, everybody wants to become a musician or an actor but what about the painters? I pass by the road side and see young guys that are artists that put their work on the wall for all to see. If your child has that ability and passes through our organisation, we are going to nurture it and we will help give them enough exposure, that is the future we see and that is what we are all about.
When did the Kiddies Talent Show start?
It will be funny to tell you that we started this talent show in 2013 and we staged the first season in the same year. It is a television reality show that we put out there for the world to see, that we have untapped talents in Nigeria.
How was the idea conceived?
One of the directors of the company approached me because he knows I am involved with sports programmes with kids and he came up with the idea of doing a beauty pageant for children. I am not a beauty pageant kind of person for children because I am a Muslim and I felt that it could be exploitative to expose children that way. I might also be exerting on parents, so I went back to him and told him I wasn’t interested.
I got thinking that instead of a beauty pageant, why can’t we do a talent show where we can promote the act even after the show is over. So we sat down and formed a committee to set the ball rolling and so far we’ve been very lucky to achieve a lot.
How successful was the first show?
Considering the fact that it was the first time ever and we put it on television we should say 100% because I wasn’t expecting it to go that way.
You know how difficult it is to put such a programme on television considering the cost, but we had a few sponsors that believed in our dream and of course we all invested our time and money to make sure it was a success and it was.
We sold 1,500 forms. It was all over Lagos, and people heard on radio, courtesy some jingles which were sponsored by companies that partnered us. Our first auditions were at the National Theatre, then we showcased it on Silverbird Television and Lagos Television.
I want to use this opportunity to say kudos to Lagos Television (LTV), they gave us massive support; we didn’t pay much as a result. We also got support from LASSA, LIRS, and the Lagos State Commissioner for Education gave us access to public schools.
The amazing thing about the Kiddies Talent Show is that it is not restricted to certain kids; it is for everybody, whether you are in a public or private school. A child just needs a little bit of push and you will be shocked at what a child can do.
People will like to know what has happened to some of the first season participants.
In our first season, we reduced the numbers from 500 to 250. Then along the line, we went down to 24 because we didn’t start auditions on time and we needed to finish before schools resumed their session.
The 24 kids were put in a boot camp for two weeks after which 10 finalists were selected from the two different categories. We have the junior category (6-12) and the senior category (13-17); so you are looking at five finalists who won something.
The first prizes were one million, second 500,000, but we had to cut down the prizes at the end of the day because we did not have enough financial support. Instead of our promised one million, we paid half a million to the first two prizes, 250,000 for second prizes, and our third prizes were 150,000 each while the fourth and fifth got 100,000 each.
Our first winner in the senior category, 15-year-old Deborah Umoren, is a musician and we’ve been able to sign agreement with Key Productions to record a single for her which will help launch her career.
Within that first 10 category, we have 6-year-old Gift Benedict who displayed great oratory skills, so we’ve signed an agreement with Inspiration FM for her to read stories. She writes her stories herself and acts them out expertly.
There’s Mustau Adeleke, who is on scholarship from one of the parents that watched the show, Mrs. Isiba, because she was overly impressed with him when he produced a battery that could charge a phone without having to plug it on the wall. Everybody was moved by that and the scholarship covers his university education.
We have also enrolled him as an intern with Lego so when he is on holidays he has somewhere to go to and continue to improve on his construction skills.
When they were in the house they formed a theme song which will also go into production. Hopefully, during the short holiday period they will go into the studio and try to work things out and we are still looking for more sponsors so that we can engage more kids.
What are you looking to improve upon in the second season?
We plan to reach out to more people and we’ve decided to go into schools because if you look at our environment the child has a triangular life. We decided that for us to have a wider audience and have a talent that is worth looking at on television, we’ve decided to go to schools and talk to the PTAs because the schools know the talents that are out there and it’s a platform in which you can reach out to children.
To improve on the quality of our talent show, we need to go beyond what we did before. This time we’ve started earlier to raise awareness for season two and we plan to be more competitive this time.
When is season two coming up?
The season two is going to start in January and we are starting auditions by January 31. We are looking at using either the National Stadium or Teslim Balogun Stadium, both in Lagos.
The auditions will span five weeks – only on Saturdays – because we want to give everybody the opportunity to attend, including those in boarding houses. After auditions, we now go into elimination rounds and this time we are improving the elimination round by grouping the kids that have the same kind of talents together.
And for each show in the elimination round which is for three weekends, you will see the different groups and the judges and public will vote through so that by the end of the day we’ll have various talents from the different groups.
And I can assure you we are working with security outfits to ensure the safety of the kids, so parents don’t need to be worried. It is important to also say that no child will be allowed to audition unless parents’ or guardians’ consent has been sought and he/she is physically present.
Finally, what has been your biggest inspiration?
I have a giving nature and it is tough in this environment to give because when you think about giving you don’t expect to make money from it as putting smiles on people’s faces is enough.
I draw fulfilment that after the first season of the Kiddies Talent Show, we changed the lives of a lot of kids. I am imagining in the long run how many people’s lives would be changed and that already gives me the push and the power to move on.
Everyday, my prayer is to give hope to at least one child and sometimes when you look around, the children with the real talents are those who can’t afford proper academic life.
I know by enriching people’s lives I’m automatically enriching my own and I thank God because he is my biggest inspiration and without him I don’t think any of these things would’ve come to fruition. I also thank my darling husband and wonderful kids for their support.
