By Patrick Ochei,
The Delta State Child’s Rights Implementation Committee, a body empowered by law to protect and enforce the rights of children within the State, has x-rayed and analysed the remote cause of death of the Delta born Dowen College student, Sylvester Oromoni Jnr., adding that meting out appropriate sanctions would act as deterrent to any individual or corporate entity that impedes on the rights of children.
The Committee met, brainstormed and came up with far-reaching decisions amidst the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence, where it took critical cognisance of the alleged gruesome murder of the late Sylvester Oromoni by his senior schoolmates at Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos.
Presiding over the meeting which held on Wednesday, December 8, 2021, at the Prof. Chike Edozien Secretariat in Asaba, the Chairman and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community and Social Development, Mrs. Kevwe Agas said that the challenge of most schools in present day Nigeria is indiscipline, usually orchestrated by the dynamics of the time.
She averred that people these days run schools solely as profit oriented entities and not necessarily to impact knowledge, adding that such mindset has given most parents the impetus to forget their role and now behave the way they like in parenting.
Agas submitted by saying that society is gradually losing every sense of morality, maintaining that Delta State Government is not happy with such development where parenting and mentoring have been relegated to the background.
Lamenting the failure of guardians to correct the present generation of children, the Honourable Commissioner for Humanitarian and Social Services, Barr Bridget Anyafulu called on the Families, Traditional Institutions and Religious Bodies to rise to the occasion as critical stakeholders in ensuring Child Protection and re-institutionalisation of value system.
According to her, “We should at all times find out what our children are going through in boarding houses. The death of Sylvester Oromoni Jnr is not a loss to Delta, but an eye opener to the reality that has been existing unchecked. Sylvester Oromoni is our Jesus that has come to redefine and reconstruct our lifestyle. We must work hard to see things begin to change from here. Child Protection is our responsibility irrespective of biological relationship or not.
“Nevertheless, and truth be told, we have lost our children. We need to go back to basics to rediscover ourselves and reinvent our old ways of life. We left our Africanism to become white in behaviour.
“We have failed in our duties as parents. We have failed as community leaders. We have failed as religious leaders and we have failed even as care givers. We have left our children to grow wings unchallenged, because we are giving them training the white man’s way. No Child’s Rights law says you cannot beat a child; the only caveat is that you must beat them with limit”, Anyafulu said.
However, several resolutions were reached on the way forward and the best approaches to Child Protection. Members were urged to go back to their various organisations and communities and begin to sensitize the people on Delta State Child’s Rights Law of 2009 and its implications on offenders.
Moreover, the Committee resolved to play its part on seeking justice for Sylvester Oromoni Jnr in line with the Delta State Government’s decision on the matter.