Worried by the increasing spate of criminality in the society, the Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, and the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, have charged parents to inculcate right values in their children.
While Governor Uduaghan said parents should be blamed for not instilling right values in their children, Oritsejafor maintained that lack of right values was responsible for the increasing rate of deviants in the society.
They spoke in Warri at the 90th Birthday Thanksgiving Service of Justice Silvanus Ajuyah, the father of the Delta State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Charles Ajuyah (SAN).
The governor said: “I want to urge parents to please bring up their children in the way that when they leave you, people can give positive testimony of those children.
“I keep saying that in life three things are important: God first, your family second and your work third.
“Don’t let your work overshadow your family.
“Don’t be too busy that you have no time for your family.
“It is true that most of the criminals we see today are people who have challenges at home.”
Uduaghan that such deviant children in the long run turn around to harm and hunt their parents.
He commended Justice Ajuyah for bringing up his children with the virtues of dedication, serious mindedness and thoroughness, which they have carried on to their life endeavours.
“You can know the character of a man,” he continued, “or a woman through his children.
“I have noticed three things about Justice Ajuyah’s children: discipline, serious mindedness and thoroughness.
“His children portrayed the discipline that was imbibed in them by their parents.
“You can see the importance of upbringing in his children.
“I have a feeling that as the children (of Ajuyah) are working, they are seeing their parents watching what they are doing.
“They are propelled to be dedicated and disciplined by the virtues their parents have inculcated in them.”
Pastor Orisejafor, who disclosed that Ajuyah and his wife played a significant role in his upbringing, described him as “my pride and that of so many people.”
The CAN president observed that God has ensured that besides His Word, human beings, especially parents, played their roles in the moulding and shaping of the character of the younger ones.
While he lamented that this God-assigned role has sadly been neglected by parents thereby resulting in the increasing number of criminals in the society, the officiating minister at the thanksgiving service, Venerable Best Agbolayah, speaking on the faithfulness of God, noted that Almighty God has been good to Ajuyah in blessing him with long life.
The Cleric described Ajuyah as a man that personified integrity, punctuality and dedication and urged people to strive to use their times on earth to profitable ventures that will serve as lasting legacies for others to follow.