Children’s Day: Children are special gifts from God and should be treated as such — woman leader

By Ekuson Nw’Ogbunka
Abuja

Woman leader, Abuja chapter of the National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTs), Chief (Mrs) Rachael Adewumi has described children as special and precious gifts from God, and called that they be treated as such.

Describing them as the future leaders, she said that seeing them as special and precious gifts from God means that God in His infinite mercy gave them to their parents and the government freely, explaining that treating them as such, among others means loving, respecting, caring, training, educating and preparing them for the future, as well as giving them all it takes to face the challenges ahead effectively.

The woman leader said this at her 2023 Children’s Day Message to Nigerians Saturday.

Recalled that the theme for this 2023 celebration is, “Investing in Our Future, Means Investing in Our Children. The Present Dispensation Hasn’t Faired Too Well in the Area of Investing in Our Children.” She however reiterated that the essence of the celebration which was started in Nigeria in 1950, was to among others, promote the rights, health, welfare and the well being of the children.

Agreeing with the theme, Amb Rachael Adewumi said fathers, mothers, governments and the society at large have a lot to do in planning for the children’s future, just saw she pointed out that should each of the parents, governments and the society collaboratively live up to expectation, the future of the leaders of tomorrow, according to her would be very bright.

Making her point, she said in the family, there is always, division of labour, between wife and husband. Dr Adewumi therefore said that the fact that the man isn’t only the bread winner in the family, but also the head of the family, which in turn he is answerable to Christ for, he has the duty of struggling hard to ensure that he fends for his family effectively, as well as put God first in everything, which if done, according to her would go long way.

By dong that, she went on, the man should live no stone unturned to see that he legitimately takes responsibility, in the area of ensuring that the children go to school, even as she added that the way things have been going, there is the need for each family to go into family planning, so as to have the number of children they can take care of.

On the side of the mother, she said while it is her duty to ensure that the children don’t go astray as their father don’t come back in time, due to his duty of trying to make end meet, she quickly advised that the woman of the family should be made to have something doing, so as to be contributing through one way or the other to complement to thr efforts of the man.

She however added that marriage without children, caused either by death of the children or infertility makes such family unhappy and unfulfilled. To avoid such, she advised intending couples to ensure that they consult doctors before going into marriage.

Although she hailed the government for performance so far, but was quick to advise the governments at all levels to be regularly, creating awareness on the importance of family planning and training of the children. She further advised the governments at all level to ensure that they play their expected roles, with special regard to making training of the children easy for parents.

She however called on organisations in the society, such as Non Governmeal Organisations (NGOs) to be selflessly assisting the less privileged among Nigerian children in the areas of training and education, as NGOs like Taken Empowerment Initiatives has been dong.