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Int’l Youth Day: Panel Of Discussants In Benin Decry Lack Of Sex Education In Homes

Published

3 years ago

August 12, 2022

Discussants at a one day programme organized to mark this year’s International Youth Day have attributed unwanted pregnancy, abortion among Nigerian youths to the huge gap of sexual communication between parents and their wards as they grow up.

They said most parents forbid communicating anything that has to do with sex in their homes to their growing children, hence they go elsewhere particularly the social media to get such sexual information and even get the wrong ones.

The programme to mark year’s International Youth Day with the theme: ‘Intergenerational Solidarity: Creating a World for All Ages’ was organized on Friday in Benin by Edo State Technical Working Group for Adolescent Health and Developent (STWGAYHD) in collaboration with Advocacy Core Group (ACG), Edo and other stakeholders including the Network of Reproductive Health Journalists of Nigeria.

One of the panel of discussants at the event, Comrade Abiola Daisy Igaga from Conference of Non-Governmnetal Organisation said most parents do not have anything to tell their children on reproductive health, rather they gave the scary information of getting pregnant if a man meets them.

“Most mothers do not have what they can tell their children on reproductive health. In fact, my mother then will tell me that ‘if a man gets close to you, you will be pregnant,’ but this is not true. So, I did not have any information on reproductive health until I got to school,” she said.

Another discussant, Juliet Egwede from Edo State Technical Group on Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health said parents and the society at large respond negatively to any discussion on sex by the young ones rather than enlightening them and telling them the right ways to go about it.

“The response from parents, when a child starts communication on reproductive health, has been negative. Even the society we are living in, when you talk about sex, the response is always negative. So, this makes young people shy away from talking about it particularly in public,” she said.

Continuing in the discussion, she said: “We need to talk about it at home. We are in the social media age where young ones go and learn most often in the negative, so, if we fail to teach them at home, they will go and learn elsewhere. So, as parents, if we have that communication relationship with our children about sex as they grow up, they will open up to us.”

Earlier in his welcome address, Dr. Bright Oniovokukor, Chairman, STWGAYHD, said one of the issues plaguing young people is inadequate access to reproductive health services, mostly, accurate information on reproductive health services and contraceptive service health.

He added: “Numerous factors such as parental influence, community and religious norms, etc are seen as significant barriers in affecting sexual reproductive health discussion. To address this social barrier hence we are having this International Dialogue and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health Services. We want to bridge the gap that we can close.”

He continued: “One is tempted to ask, where did we miss it; where does the gap lie? Can we identify these gaps for things to get better?”

In his goodwill message, Hillary Aghedo, Chairman, National Youth Council, Oredo Chapter, urged youths to join the movement of positive change that everyone in the country is yearning for.

In her goodwill message, Bisi Akpaida, state coordinator, Network of Reproductive Health Journalists of Nigeria, said journalists are concerned about the reproductive health of the young ones hence media practitioners came together with a view to talking and enlightening them on reproductive health.

Discussants at the event all stressed the need for parents to all bridge the gap of sexual communication with their children with a view to guiding them aright in their sexual activities, as they said most of the young ones are sexually active hence no need to hiding anything from them.

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PHOTOS: Esama Of Benin Commissions BRC Ultramodern Lounge, Promises A Phase Lift

Published

6 hours ago

June 29, 2025

Editor

The Esama of Benin Kingdom, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, has promised to give a phase lift to the Benin Recreation Club (BRC) in the next 12 months.

Chief Igbinedion made the promise in Benin on Saturday when he officially visited the BRC to commission a newly remodeled ultramodern ‘Chief Go.O. Igbinedion Bustop Lounge.’

The Esama, who expressed dissatisfaction on how he met the ancient recreation club, said: “This place needs a drastic improvement. I would, therefore, like the committee to see me, and I promise 12 months from now, this place will wear a new look.”

Chief Igbinedion, however, thanked current and past executives of the club for a job well done, and for sustaining the BRC, saying “many organisations or associations as this have gone into extinction but you have put in your best to keep this going.”

The octogenarian, who thanked the leadership and the board of trustees for the honour done on him through the naming of a lounge, also vowed not to neglect the leadership especially knowing well that he has been a founding member of the BRC.

In his remarks, Special Guest of Honour and Chief Judge of Edo State, Justice Daniel Okungbowa, while describing the BRC as the best place to relax after a stressful day, urged members of the public who are yet to join the BRC to do so.

Earlier in his welcome speech, president of the BRC, Courage Osamuyi said the lounge was named after Chief Igbinedion in recognition of his great support for the club and his contribution to humanity.

Justice Daniel Okungbowa, Chief Judge of Edo State

The BRC president, who declared that the presence of the Esama in the BRC signifies a new dawn, said “what we are having today is just the beginning. As he has stepped into this place, greater things will start to happen.”

Osamuyi, while noting that the Esama “has been a founding member of the club over the years,” thanked Chief Igbinedion for his good work and for honouring them with his presence.

Osamuyi Courage, President of The BRC

News

Peter Obi Condemns Tinubu’s Saint Lucia Trip

Published

9 hours ago

June 28, 2025

Editor

Labour Party leader and former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s planned trip to Saint Lucia, describing it as poorly timed and lacking in sensitivity, especially amid Nigeria’s deepening economic and security challenges.

Tinubu is expected to leave Nigeria on Saturday for Saint Lucia and is also scheduled to attend the upcoming BRICS summit in Brazil.

In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, Obi expressed dismay over the president’s travel, questioning the state of governance in the country.

Obi argued that Tinubu’s trip highlights a pattern of misplaced priorities by the administration, particularly at a time when citizens are grappling with widespread hunger and insecurity.

“What I have seen and witnessed in the last two years has left me in shock about poor governance delivery and apparent channelling of energy into politics and satisfaction of the elites, while the masses in our midst are languishing in want,” Obi stated.

He lamented the toll of rising insecurity across Nigeria, pointing out the country’s deteriorating safety situation.

“In the past two years, Nigeria has lost more people to all sorts of criminality than a country that is officially at war.

“Without any twilight, Nigeria ranks among the most insecure places in the world. Nigerians are hungrier, and most people do not know where their next meal will come from,” he wrote.

Obi said he was stunned when he learned of the President’s travel plans, especially following what he described as a recent holiday in Lagos.

“With such a gory picture of one’s country, you can imagine my bewilderment when I saw a news release from the Presidency announcing that President Bola Tinubu is departing Nigeria today for a visit to Saint Lucia in the Caribbean,” he said.

Quoting Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister, Philip J. Pierre, Obi noted that the visit comprises both official and personal segments.

“According to the Prime Minister’s announcement, ‘two of these days, June 30 and July 1, will be dedicated to an official visit, with the remainder of the trip set aside as a personal vacation,” he said.

Obi noted that he initially found the report hard to believe.

“I told the person who drew my attention to the Caribbean story that it cannot be true and that the President is just coming back from a holiday in Lagos.

“I didn’t want to believe that anybody in the position of authority, more so the President… would contemplate a leisure trip at this time,” Obi said.

He condemned Tinubu’s failure to visit disaster-stricken areas like Minna in Niger State, where over 200 people reportedly died and hundreds remain missing due to flooding.

“This is a President going for leisure when he couldn’t visit Minna, Niger State where over two hundred lives were lost and over 700 persons still missing in a flood natural disaster,” he said.

Obi also took issue with Tinubu’s recent trip to Benue State, claiming it was politically motivated rather than compassionate.

“The other state in crisis where over two hundred lives were murdered, the President yielded to public pressure and visited Makurdi… for what turned out to be a political jamboree than condolence as public holiday was declared and children made to line up to receive the President who couldn’t even reach the village, the scene of the brutal attack,” he said.

Drawing comparisons between Nigeria and Saint Lucia, Obi questioned the logic of prioritising a visit to the Caribbean nation over addressing pressing domestic issues.

“Makurdi is 937.4 Km², which is over 59% bigger than St Lucia, which is 617 km², and Minna is 6789 square kilometres, which is ten times bigger than St Lucia. St Lucia, with a population of 180,000, is less than half of Makurdi’s 489,839 and Minna, with 532,000 is almost three times the population of St Lucia,” the former Anambra governor said.

He concluded his post by stressing the urgent need for leadership that is grounded in empathy and focused on addressing the suffering of ordinary Nigerians.

He said, “I don’t think the situation in this country today calls for leisure for anybody in a position of authority, more so the President, on whose desk the buck stops.

“This regime has repeatedly shown its insensitivity and lack of passion for the populace…”

Obi added, “This very obvious indifference of the federal government to the suffering of the Nigerian poor should urgently be reversed.

“One had expected the President to be asking God for extra hours in a day for the challenges, but what we see is a concentration of efforts in the 2027 election and on satisfying the wealthy while the mass poor continues to multiply in number.”

News

World Bank Lists Nigeria Among 39 Nations Facing Rising Poverty, Hunger

Published

9 hours ago

June 28, 2025

Editor

The World Bank has listed Nigeria among 39 countries where poverty and hunger are deepening as a result of conflict and instability.

In a report released on Friday, the bank said the economies, a mix of low- and middle-income countries, span all global regions. Among them are Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Sudan, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe.

The report, which assesses the economic impact of conflict and fragility in the post-COVID-19 era, revealed that 21 of the 39 countries are experiencing active conflict.

According to the findings, extreme poverty is rising more rapidly in these countries, taking a severe toll on economic development, worsening hunger, and derailing progress toward key development goals.

Since 2020, the report noted, the average per capita GDP of these economies has declined by 1.8 per cent annually, in contrast to a 2.9 per cent growth rate recorded in other developing countries.

The report partly reads: “This year, 421 million people are struggling on less than $3 a day in economies afflicted by conflict or instability—more than in the rest of the world combined.

“That number is projected to rise to 435 million, or nearly 60% of the world’s extreme poor, by 2030.”