Parents have been urged to always nurture an environment of friendly communication with their children in the homes as a way of gaining their confidence and securing their future.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said this at an event to commemorate their August 2024 meeting.
The 2024 event was held on Monday at the Abakaliki Council headquarters, Nkaliki, Ebonyi State.
It was organised by the wife of the Council chairman in collaboration with the office of the wife of the governor, and her pet project: “Better Health for Rural Women, Children and the Internally Displaced Persons Foundation,” and other partners.
UNESCO representative, Rose Gold Okoro, while addressing the women, noted that the organisation has been working in the state on issues around young people’s education and wellbeing, especially those of the girl child, and most importantly in getting dropouts back to school.
She explained that UNESCO was in its Programme 3 in the state, concerned mainly about parent-child communication.
Okoro, who is the Adolescent Health and Development Desk Officer in the State Ministry of Health, told mothers to make their children their friends so that they can freely confide in them concerning issues capable of negatively affecting their future and wellbeing.
She emphasised: “UNESCO wants parents to share closeness with their young ones so that they can win them over and be able to bring them out of those negative actions they indulge in, which may hinder them from fully harnessing their potential in life.
“They are also providing assistance to girls who dropped out of school for some reasons such as drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, among other reasons, to be encouraged to go back to school so as to be able to achieve their life dreams.”
Speaking on the theme for the event: “A wise Woman builds her home,” Okoro maintained that it is by getting the proper knowledge, teaching and rightly directing the younger ones looking up to her that a woman can suffice as an effective home builder.
Wife of the Governor, Mary-Maudline Uzoamaka Nwifuru, represented at the event by the State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Felicia Nwamkpuma, and the Coordinator of BERWO, Nkechi Emma Echiegu, in their separate speeches encouraged the women to always set their eyes on their adolescent children and navigate them through the right part of development for both their future and for the peace of the home and society in general.
The host and wife of Abakaliki Council Chairman, Lydia Obioma Nwogba, and chairman of the event, Salome Emma Uguru, encouraged the women to combine knowledge and enterprise in safeguarding the home front for the ultimate good of the family.
Elaborating further on the theme, Nwogba added: “As we discuss on this year’s theme, it is crucial to reflect upon the crucial impact women have on their families, their communities and society as a whole.
“True wisdom lies in not only acquiring knowledge, but in applying it in ways that nurture and strengthen the foundation of our homes.”
In an interview, the Executive Director of GirlUp Africa, a Nongovernmental Organization commissioned by UNESCO to handhold the state stakeholders in implementation of its 03 Programme in the state, Chikaodi Omokide, said her organisation has been advocating for policy makers in the state to wake up to the demands of the commitment of all heads of state in Africa, which is anchored on promotion of education and wellbeing of adolescents and young people.
The ED noted that the demands of the convention, which Nigeria is signatory to, if provided, would guarantee the much desired secured future for the young people and adolescents in Nigeria.
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She further noted that her organisation was leveraging on the platform of the August meeting to eagerly seek for the re-enrollment of girls that dropped out of school for one reason or the other.
Omokide added: “We are also basically pushing for the linking of all schools to the youth-friendly primary healthcare centres in the state so that any young person who has health issues can walk up to these youth-friendly centres and be attended to by a youth-friendly trained officer who he or she can speak freely with.
“In so doing, we would be creating demand for good health seeking behaviour among our young people.”
Resource persons at the event, including the State Commander, Drug Demand Reduction Department of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Godwin Erepa, and President, Medical Women Association of Nigeria, Ebonyi State chapter, Lillian Nwobashi, also sensitised the women on issues around drug/substance abuse, tuberculosis prevention and control, among other health and family related issues.
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