27th May: Mayor Onyemaobi Celebrates Dunukofia Children and Charges for More Positive Concern Towards Our Children

By Harrison Nwabueze

The Dunukofia LG Council Chairman, Mayor Onyemaobi Augustine Nonyelum (Ancestor), has on Saturday, May 27, 2023, celebrated with the ‘Leaders of Tomorrow’, children across Dunukofia LGA, to mark the 2023 Children’s Day.

The Dunukofia Mayor joined all distinguished Nigerians, school principals, teachers, students, and pupils to celebrate the children and was on ground at the Dunukofia LG Secretariat to receive honorary salutes from the students and their teachers during the school-by-school Match Past as they mark the 2023 Children’s Day.

Addressing the over 500 children, the mayor noted that this day is a special occasion marked out to specially celebrate and appreciate our children, imbibe and inculcate good morals, values, disciplines, cleanliness, and above all, a sense of order into them, whom we all know are the future leaders of tomorrow. He stated that the children deserve the best and brightest future, as they are gifts from God and the heritage of any nation.

The mayor maintained that it is our duty to protect, nurture, and teach our children right while providing an enabling environment for them to grow into well-rounded and upright individuals in this time of excessive exposure, where our values are rapidly being stripped away. He implored every parent, guardian, school principal, and teacher to put all hands on deck to stand up for our children, to nurture, inculcate, impact, build, and develop the children in the right and acceptable values and norms of our land in order to produce responsible and productive citizens and leaders of tomorrow, noting also that the development of a country lies in the hands of our children.

While reminding the students of the recent recruitment of 5000 teachers into the public and mission schools in Anambra State, he reiterated that one of the major mandates of Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo’s administration is to provide quality education for the children and that he’s here as the LG Chairman working towards achieving this in Dunukofia and ensuring that adequate teachers are deployed to various schools in the LGA. He reassured the public that the renovation of schools, the employment of more teachers, and the provision of adequate learning facilities will continue to be taken care of by this government. He also promised to always support the children and students within his capacity.

The Mayor therefore enjoined parents to always evaluate the parent-child relationship since the family is regarded as the first and core agent of socialisation for a child and to make sure that every child does not suffer from any form of parental negligence, as this would have adverse effects on their mental and emotional stability as a child.

He called on the different child welfare agencies to help protect the interests and safety of every child, as these children often fall prey to abuse. He said that child abuse, including physical and emotional abuse of a child, child neglect, child sexual abuse, child trafficking, and every other ill attitude meted out to a child, should always be looked into.

He also called on the general public to collaborate with and assist our children in performing every required responsibility to make a beautiful society and a better nation tomorrow. According to the mayor, “it takes a village to raise a child, and we all have our part to play. We must remember that our conduct as adults is a point of reference for these young, budding minds, and the precedent we set or leave behind is what they will imbibe. May we continue to be good, exemplary figures to the children around us.”

On behalf of the entire Ndi Dunukofia, he concluded by conveying his warmest wishes on this Children’s Day occasion to all the children and asking that they celebrate with joy and enjoy the gift of childhood.