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OPINION: Children’s Day And The Scam Of Tomorrow

Published

3 months ago

May 28, 2025

By Israel Adebiyi

Once upon a time in many Nigerian homes, there was a rhythm to childhood. It echoed in the laughter of children gathered under the moonlight, listening to folktales from wise grandmothers—stories of Tortoise and the hare, morality and mischief, hard work and honesty. It echoed in warm evenings of family dinners, morning treks to school in uniforms neatly ironed, and the comfort of knowing that adults were in charge—parents, teachers, and a government that at least pretended to care. That rhythm has long faded.

Today, the Nigerian child is born into chaos, grows up amid contradictions, and learns too early that promises mean nothing. Each May 27, we gather to recite that children are “the leaders of tomorrow,” but what we fail to admit is that this tomorrow is deliberately being sabotaged. It is not just lost; it is being stolen in broad daylight.

Let’s Begin with Education. Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world—an estimated 18.5 million. That number alone should spark a national emergency, yet it is spoken of with such casualness you’d think it were a weather forecast. Millions of children roam the streets hawking sachet water, fruits, or plastic wares when they should be in classrooms. In the North, Almajiri children continue to be abandoned in large numbers under a system that provides neither education nor security. In many Southern states, children are seen as economic props, pushed into trade or house help servitude.

Those who make it to school are not necessarily lucky. Public schools across the country are crumbling. From leaking roofs and broken chairs to the absence of toilets, blackboards, and learning aids, many Nigerian classrooms are not places of learning but sites of struggle. The curriculum remains outdated, irrelevant to modern realities, and poorly delivered. While the world is building coding academies for toddlers, we are still teaching children to cram colonial poetry and 1980s textbook diagrams.

Teachers, the supposed nation-builders, are grossly underpaid and in many cases, underqualified. In some schools, a single teacher manages four to six classes. Training and capacity development are either nonexistent or political rituals. How does a child receive quality education when their teacher is themselves a victim of a broken system?

Worse still, our schools are no longer safe. With rising cases of abductions—from Chibok to Kagara to Dapchi—parents are forced to weigh the risk of education against the price of safety. This is a dilemma that should never exist in a sane society. A government that cannot secure its schools has no business sermonizing about the importance of education.

In the health sector, Nigeria’s infant and child mortality rates remain among the highest globally. According to UNICEF, one in ten Nigerian children dies before their fifth birthday, mostly from preventable causes. Many Nigerian children still die from diarrhoea, malaria, pneumonia, and malnutrition—ailments the world conquered decades ago. Our immunization coverage is poor, especially in rural areas where vaccine hesitancy and infrastructural gaps persist.

Traditional birth attendants continue to thrive in areas where government clinics are either too far, too expensive, or simply unavailable. Expectant mothers still deliver on floors or with torchlight. Where children are born into such conditions, the cycle of vulnerability begins at birth.

Here are the unspoken scars of the Nigerian Child – Abuse and Rights Violations. The Nigerian Child Rights Act (2003) is a comprehensive legal document that affirms the rights of every Nigerian child to survival, development, protection, and participation. Yet, over 20 years later, some states have still not domesticated this law. And in states where it exists, enforcement is patchy at best.

Children suffer physical abuse, sexual exploitation, forced labour, trafficking, and emotional neglect daily. From baby factories to underage marriages to child soldiers in conflict zones, Nigeria has become a theatre of child rights violations. It is one thing to be poor. It is another to be unprotected.

When we say children are “the leaders of tomorrow,” what exactly do we mean? A child growing up amid poverty, violence, abuse, and hunger will not suddenly blossom into a competent leader because we proclaimed it. Leadership is cultivated. And cultivation requires care, systems, and consistent investment. We are not preparing children for tomorrow; we are abandoning them to survive today.

In many homes, the idea of parenting has become largely transactional. Economic hardship has eroded family bonding. Tales by moonlight have been replaced by cartoons on phones. Parents, stressed and underpaid, often have nothing left to give emotionally. We are raising children in isolation—physically present but emotionally disconnected. The result is a generation growing up without empathy, values, or vision.

Parents and communities must take back the moral responsibility of shaping children. Government cannot parent our children for us. But government must provide the basic scaffolding—schools, clinics, protection, and justice.

In the final analysis, May 27 must stop being a day of sugar-coated statements. It must become a mirror—a day of national reflection, policy accountability, and renewed investment in our children’s future.

The Nigerian child is not asking for luxuries. They are asking for classrooms with roofs, teachers who show up, clinics that work, and laws that protect. They are asking for the basic dignity of being raised in a country that sees them not as statistics, but as citizens. Until then, the phrase “leaders of tomorrow” remains a grand deception—a scam coated in celebration.

It is time to give children more than cake and fanfare. It is time to give them a future.

News

JUST IN: Ibom Air Passenger Charged To Court Over ‘Unruly’ Act, Remanded In Prison

Published

4 hours ago

August 11, 2025

Editor

A passenger who assaulted airline officials on an Ibom Air flight inbound Lagos from Uyo, Comfort Emmanson, has reportedly been charged to court.

The Special Adviser to the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, on Media and Communications, Tunde Moshood, who revealed this, said Emmanson has been remanded in the Kirikiri correctional facility.

Moshood disclosed this in a post on X on Monday shortly after the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, said enforcement action will soon become more frequent in Nigerian airports as unruly conduct by passengers becomes rampant.

The development is coming on the heels of a similar incident involving popular Fuji musician, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, aka KWAM 1 or K1 and an airline, ValueJet.

The musician attempted to stop the aircraft from taking off after he was deboarded.

Details shortly…

News

SERAP, NGE Drag Niger Gov, NBC To Court Over Radio Station Closure Threat

Published

21 hours ago

August 10, 2025

Editor

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project and the Nigerian Guild of Editors have filed a lawsuit against Niger State Governor, Umar Bago, and the National Broadcasting Commission over what they described as “the ongoing intimidation” of Badeggi FM Radio, Minna, and the threat to shut down the station.

This was contained in a statement on Sunday by SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, accusing NBC of failing to stand in defence of the local station.

Recall that Bago ordered the closure and the revocation of the licence of Badeggi Radio 90.1 FM in Minna over alleged public incitement.

However, in suit number FHC/L/CS/1587/2025, filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Lagos, SERAP and NGE are seeking to determine “whether by Section 22 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended) and section 2(1)(t) of the NBC Act, the NBC has the legal duty to protect Badeggi FM from the ongoing intimidation from the governor.”

They are also seeking “an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Niger state governor and NBC from further harassing, intimidating and/or threatening to shut down Badeggi FM radio, revoke its licence and profile the station’s owner.”

The groups argued, “The ongoing intimidation and threat by Mr Bago to strip Badeggi FM station of its licence, further threat to demolish the station’s premises and profile its owner is unlawful and a violation of the rights to freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom.”

They described allegations of inciting violence against the station and its owner as “vague, unfounded and unsubstantiated and apparently made to silence the radio station.”

The suit, filed on behalf of SERAP and NGE by lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare, Oluwakemi Agunbiade, and Andrew Nwankwo, read in part, “The media plays an essential role as a vehicle or instrument for the exercise of freedom of expression and information – in its individual and collective aspects – in a democratic society.

“Intimidating, harassing and silencing critical or dissenting voices under the guise of vague and unsubstantiated national security concerns is a fundamental breach of the Nigerian Constitution and Nigeria’s international human rights obligations.

“The ongoing intimidation and harassment of Badeggi FM and its owner is capable of discouraging participation of the press in debates over matters of legitimate public concern ahead of the 2027 general elections.”

SERAP and NGE are therefore asking the court for the following reliefs, “A declaration that by the combined provisions of Section 22 Nigerian Constitution and section 2(1)(t) of the National Broadcasting Act, the NBC is obligated by law to protect Badeggi FM station and other broadcasting outlets in Nigeria from undue interference from unauthorised persons or entity.

“A declaration that the failure and/or neglect of the NBC to protect and defend the independence of the radio station against arbitrary executive interference constitutes a breach of its statutory duty to ensure fair, independent, and lawful broadcasting practices in Nigeria.

“A declaration that the ongoing intimidation and threat issued by Mr Bago to strip Badeggi FM station of its operational licence and further threat to demolish the station’s premises is unlawful and a violation of the rights to freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom.

“A declaration that the threat issued by the Bago to strip Badeggi FM radio station of its operational licence encroaches upon the statutory powers of the NBC as provided for under section 2 of the National Broadcasting Commission Act.

“An order of perpetual injunction restraining the governor and NBC, its agents and privies from harassing, intimidating and/or threatening to revoke the operating licence of Badeggi FM station or any other broadcasting outlet in Niger State.”

It was said that no date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.

News

Radio Station Suspends GM For Criticising Ebonyi Gov

Published

22 hours ago

August 10, 2025

Editor

A privately-owned radio station in Ebonyi State, Legacy FM (The Sound of Now), has suspended its acting General Manager, Mr Godfrey Chikwere.

His suspension, it was gathered, followed his alleged persistent “negative” projection of Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, and his policies during radio broadcasts and on social media.

Announcing his suspension on Saturday, the management of Legacy FM claimed the ousted official acted in a manner contrary to the station’s code of conduct.

It said, “The management of Legacy FM 95.1, The Sound of Now, hereby suspends the acting General Manager, Godfrey Chikwere, with immediate effect, till further notice.

“This is due to unruly behaviour and disobedience to the code of conduct guiding the Legacy FM.

“With such effect, he is hereby directed to hand over all the company property in his position to the next senior officer.”

The PUNCH gathered that the radio personality, in a post on his Facebook page on Friday, called on the governor to be stringent in his handling of state matters.

He alleged that public perception of the governor’s administration was being cajoled, while also claiming Nwifuru’s administration was marred by poor communication, underperformance by his appointees, and lack of clear-cut policy direction.

Chikwere also advised the governor to “step on toes” to achieve results, adding that the current state of affairs weakened his support base.

Reacting, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Monday Uzor, criticised the suspended radio staff member over what he described as undue criticisms of his boss’ administration.

In a statement on Friday, Uzor described the criticisms as baseless and unfounded, accusing the former of ingratitude for attacking the governor despite what the state government had done for them.

He said, “It is regrettable that despite the radio station thriving only on government support, the supposed helmsman dedicates a greater percentage of the station’s airtime to attack and run down the government whose support has kept his medium afloat.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the governor gifted the medium a brand new Changan SUV, donated a brand new transformer that powers the station, constructed the road leading to the broadcasting house.

“But rather than give at least balanced coverage of government activities, it has been turned into a slaughter house of the governor’s genuine development efforts and goodwill, what a way to be ungrateful to good deeds.”

On his part, the state Commissioner for Information in Ebonyi State, Ikeuwa Omebeh, also condemned Chikwere’s criticisms of Nwifuru, describing them as “derogatory and inciting.”

In a statement on Saturday, the commissioner accused him of “overstepping his bounds.”

He said his remarks against the governor were unacceptable and an affront to the collective identity of all the people of the state.