Sydney O. Madukwem 07069123994
The account of creation shows the peak position of man. God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created male and female. God gave them freedom to procreate, fill the earth and subdue it, to have dominion over all other living creatures in the sea and under the ground.
The family is the oldest institution with definable or identifiable responsibilities for its members. Procreation remains the bedrock of the family, with injunction attached to it, to train up a child the way he should and when he grows up, he will not depart from it. It is not a rhetoric. It is an injunction with serious commitments. If pre-supposes spiritual, mental, physical and educational well being of the children. The greatest investment of parents lies in the education of their children. It is reciprocal especially in the long run when parents are old and frail.
In the 1970’s and 1980’s family cohesion and dynamics was without a crack. Parents remained focused on the moral contents of their children, combined with sound education. Children then were regarded as universal belongings and the entire society. censored and condemned actions inimical to the social fabrics. Employment opportunities were part of social contracts between leaders and the led.
Charity they say begins at home. Every member of the family at home or abroad tried not to breach the good name of the family. Meagre income, minimum comforts, and constraints did not sacrifice cherished values.
Today the family cohesion is threatened by a combination of factors. Many families are in disarray or fragmentation. Parents and their children work at cross-purposes. Family bonds are destroyed. Children resort to drugs and peer group rascality. These days, it is a dig-eat-dog affair, the end justifies the means.
The status, prominence and relevance of Nigerians are measured by the volume of cars, quantity of cash and wealth. There is the scramble to be counted among the rich. Truth, transparency and accountability are mere wishful thinkings.
The family cohesion is shaken to its foundation. Aberrations are acknowledged as norms. Kidnapping, high-profile assassinations, child trafficking, armed robbery, social media vices challenge the Nigerian society and the perpetrators unfortunately are not from the moon but various members of the families. Altogether, there is a degeneration of moral values, notwithstanding the multiplicity of religious and missionary institutions.
Parents often fail to interact with or to be watched by their children through enriching folk-tale stories, proverbs, but prefer to replace their presence with television and social media in preference to their businesses and, individual interests to the detriment of their children.
The family cohesion derives backing in the Children Act 1989. This piece of ‘legislation states among other stipulations:
(a) The welfare of children is the prime consideration and wherever possible they should be cared within their own families. Parents with
children in need should be helped and supported by local authorities and in partnership with other agencies to bring up their children themselves.
(b) Children should be kept safe and protected by effective intervention if they are in danger but this should be open to parental challenge through courts.
(c) Parents should continue to have responsibility for their children even when they are no longer with them. This legislation speaks volume of the family as a microcosm of the society and interwoven in the task of national development.
If, therefore, the family cohesion is in threat, which indeed is threatened, the Nigerian nation is threatened too, developmentally. Silence, reticence and aloofness are a escapist approach and dangerous. If the truth be told things have fallen apart but not beyond redemption. We should humble ourselves, pause a little, look inwards, return to the basics and follow convention for a rediscovery.
At home parents should assert authority, be bold enough to repudiate material acquisitions obviously acquired under questionable circumstances by their children. Cherished values and high morals are lasting and rewarding.
On the other side, the various levels of leaders, individually and collectively should be seen to be accountable. Reward and recognition of hardwork and industry especially to those who spent the best of their lives in the service of their states or nation should not be sacrificed by the governments. Material acquisition can only be healthful, if it only translates into legacies of job opportunities, affordable good health-care, to mention but a few and anything to the contrary is ingratitude to God and the people.
When the above steps are taken, the government will succeed in arresting alarming incidents of youth restiveness. Huge budgetary allocations to security will be channeled to other uses. Foreign investors will begin to see Nigerians and the country as better, safer investment destinations. Economic activities will blossom especially in the private sector. The nation will be better for it.
On the home front, parents will heave a sigh of relief, for the jinx of materially responsible for their children even after graduation and adulthood will be broken. Ageing is a phenomenon in human existence and when it comes, children ought to remember pay back time and reciprocate parental love, affection and investment. This is their right, and not a privilege.
