The Need To Celebrate Children!!!

Nigerian children must be among the most traumatised children in the world, given recent events in the country.  Blessing Ukemena writes on the need to sustain the annual Children’S Day celebration, despite calls for its outright cancellation
May 27 of every marks the international Children Day. In Nigeria however, the celebration on Tuesday lacked its usual fanfare because of the many challenges children in the country have had to face in recent times.  The theme of this year’s Children’s Day is. “Unite for the Peace of Nigeria: Unite for Children” which is quite apt in charting the way forward for our future generation.
Despite the fact that many groups in the country are calling for a cancellation of the children day celebration,  the Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF) is one of numerous organisations that is not in agreement with such a proposition. In an event  organisaed by WOTCLEF at the Victorine homes educational centre Takalafia, Abuja, WOTCLEF made children day memorable for the children of that community. There were about 500 children drawn from 12 schools in Takalafia, Kettie, Pyakasa, Burum and other surrounding villages in attendance. The Care for Youth Future Initiative (CAFYION), Family Mentoring Initiative, Sexual Offences Awareness & Victims Rehabilitation Initiative (SOAR Initiative), Child Youth Protection Foundation (CYPF), are among some of the NGOs that also participated.
The children showed their creativity through march past, drama, dance and talk show.
Teachers and some women from the communities also participated and added colour to the march past.
Various cash prizes were given to school children who were outstanding at the celebration.
The WOTCLEF National Coordinator, Mrs Veronica Umar was of the opinion that parents and the community at large need to do all they can to protect children from all the ills happening in the society. “Children are always the victims whenever there is a crisis in the country. When a mother or a father dies either in a bomb blast or in a  riots or accident or through a disease, it is the child that is most affected although it only becomes obvious after sometime.
“We know that the country is going through some problems but we believe that things are about to change for the better. We need to join hands and ensure that these children are protected as much as possible. We are here to make these children feel special because this is their day no matter what is happening in the country and we pray that our lost girls will return to us soon,” she said.
At a town hall meeting also held by WOTCLEF last week issues affecting children were extensively discussed. Cases of child abuse and trafficking were deliberated on by representatives from the European Union (EU), National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons  NAPTIP and other organisations. Parents, teachers and children were taught through interactive sessions and drama depicting the dangers of being trafficked, how to recognise such ills and ways to avoid them.
Barrister Nweke Chibundu, an activist in the FCT told LEADERSHIP Sunday that he does not share the opinion of those calling for the cancellation of children day celebration; “I don’t agree that children day should be cancelled because that is the only day in the year that these kids have that is dedicated to them. In fact this is when it needs to be celebrated to show those people that our spirit is alive and we will not hide in fear, that we are courageous people,” he said.
In a communication sent to LEADERSHIP to mark this year’s children’s day, UNICEF’s Communications Specialist, Mr Geoffrey Njoku restated that the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls recently, underscores the urgent need for collective action, saying; “We need to create a protective environment for our children to ensure a bright future for them.”
The Bring Back Our Girls Campaign Group had earlier in the week declared that there was nothing to celebrate during the Children’s Day considering the fact that the abducted  schoolgirls of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State are yet to be released. Some states in the country took heed to this and cancelled the children’s day celebration in their states. States like Abia, Anambra, Borno and Bayelsa cancelled all activities to mark the 2014 children day in honour of the missing Chibok girls.
The former minister of education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili-led the group and they were of the position  that as long as the abducted girls were still in the bush and living with terror group, Boko Haram, celebration of the day would be uncalled for.
Hadiza Bala Usman had also in a press release called on Nigerians who are concerned about the safety of the abducted Chibok girls to wear red in solidarity with the children.
“Children’s Day is supposed to be a day set aside to celebrate the younger generation – a generation that is terribly endangered in Nigeria, due to the activities of terrorists. In the North-East, children have been killed and abducted and we must do what we can to ensure that this threat against them is decisively tackled and permanently eliminated,” the statement added.
The incident of the missing Chibok girls have taken the world by storm but the story also casts light on the much larger global problem of gender-based violence. Reliable statistics on sex trafficking are difficult to find, but one common Global Sex Trafficking Fact Sheet/ Equality Now, puts the number of children exploited in the commercial sex trade at 2 million. More than 64 million girls around the world are child-brides. Most of these girls are kidnapped and sold, making their circumstances different from the Nigerian schoolgirls. But nonetheless, there exists a global narrative about women and girls that encompasses both groups. In all female children are the worst hit, those sold for sex trade lose their childhood and grow up with a twisted mindset. While most of these child-brides end up with vestico vaginal fistula VVF, or end up dead while giving birth because their bodies are to yet mature to handle the rigors of giving birth.
Children who are affected by security crises suffer from neglect and hunger, that was the case when thousands of families were affected by flood from early July of 2012, and  killed 363 people, displacing over 2,100,000 people as of 5 November 5 that same year, in different states of Nigeria.
It is imperative that both parents and the government must be extra vigilant to avoid another occurrence similar to the woes of the Chibok girls.