TheNewsGuru

Tag: child

  • [Video]Child falls into a well, rescued alive by a brave man

    [Video]Child falls into a well, rescued alive by a brave man

    A young child that fell into a deep well was today, rescued alive by a brave man. In a video that has surfaced online, the man who jumped into the well, tied a rope around the child which those outside the well used in pulling the child out. upon the rescue, the child was laid down on a mat for recovery.

  • Signs a child is being sexually abused or molested – Ozioma Onyenweaku

    Signs a child is being sexually abused or molested – Ozioma Onyenweaku

    By OZIOMA ONYENWEAKU

    By their nature It is not easy for a child to walk up to the parents and say I am being sexually abused by so so and so person.

    Even children who are naturally bold and would want to muster up courage to speak out about the abuse would have been silenced by the sexual abuser who would have warned her to keep quiet or she would die or her parents would be killed.

    So the child gives out non-verbal signs and clues about the abuse.

    ➢ Have you ever, as a mother, walked into your girl’s room and she startles, and on turning and discovering it is you, then heaving a sigh of relief says ’oh mom, it is you’? ➢ Has that girl child who likes sleeping in light clothes suddenly would not go to bed except she clothes up herself with shorts and trousers with long sleeve tops no matter how hot the weather is? ➢ Has that lively girl suddenly withdrawn into herself, and appearing not to trust anybody’s company or presence? ➢ Has the child that liked her lesson teacher and was always looking forward to the lesson suddenly started frowning and almost near tears once lesson time is approaching? ➢ Has the talkative suddenly stopped talking, looking gloomy and withdrawn? ➢ Has the once happy child who was on top of her class suddenly started dropping academically? ➢ Has she suddenly started avoiding that uncle, family friend or relation she was fond of? ➢ She was once spiritually minded and fond of Sunday school or choir practice but has suddenly started detesting all these? ➢ She had been a very reserved and respectful child but all of a sudden has she become aggressive, disrespectful, and easily provoked? ➢ That house help of yours that never looked you in the eye has she suddenly started challenging you and becoming disobedient ( to you, she is ‘growing wings’ because she has started seeing a man OUTSIDE, a boyfriend)? ➢ It has been years she stopped bedwetting, has she all of a sudden started bed-wetting? The list is not exhaustive. Child sexual abuse is one area that I crave zero tolerance.

    I am going to devote ample time for it in this space. Every report of child sexual abuse tends to send a dagger to my heart. One painful aspect of it is that a lot of children are going through it but cannot speak out for fear of harm or death as promised them by their abusers. If you have noticed some of the above signs on your child or children, please be concerned. One woman I attended to her case some time ago, noticed the 1st and 2nd signs, as I put out above, in her girl child. She was worried. She was terribly disturbed. She had earlier noticed that the girl would clothe herself all up when going to bed, which the girl was not doing before. She tried finding out why, but the girl said it was nothing.

    But the woman kept observing. When, on entering the girl’s room unannounced, and the girl got startled and said, “ oh mom it is you” and then seemed relaxed, she asked the girl: “Who would it have been and you would be worried?” It took a lot of loving persuasion before the girl said, “Daddy”. “Your daddy? Why?” “Of recent daddy has been touching my bum while calling me ‘fine girl; the other time he touched my breasts and said they were growing fast. Each time he walked into my room (which he does without knocking and at times when I just came out from the bathroom) I get startled. At times he would sneak into my room at night to touch my bum and breasts; that’s why I started wearing trousers to bed”.

    Heartbreaking revelation, isn’t it? The mother promised her she was going to protect her and she did. If this girl’s mother was not observant of the change in attitude, and anxiety of this girl, and took action immediately, the girl would have been violated, violated by her own father! You know what? The girl would not have forgiven her mother. Why her mother? Next article … Keep a date. Keep maintaining social distancing. Stay safe.

    OZIOMA ONYENWEAKU ozynweaku@gmail.com

  • One advantage of Covid-19 lockdown we must take – Ozioma Onyenweaku

    One advantage of Covid-19 lockdown we must take – Ozioma Onyenweaku

    By Ozioma Onyenweaku

    COVID-19 is one pandemic that has shocked the whole world bringing all human activities to a standstill; grounded all activities, and directed all attention to itself.

    How to curb COVID-19 has become the sole goal and direction of all human activities. All the expensive and state-of-the art vehicles, all the private jets, and all, are all parked, and gathering dust; and all the designer clothes no longer make any meaning and matter no more since there is nowhere to go to, no functions to attend, and no more shows! Everything has suddenly proved to be vanity! Our only desire now is to keep breathing. Man’s preoccupation now is to ensure that we keep breathing.

    I have come to a realization now, that there is basically one common basic need of mankind, old and young, rich and poor, black and white: the need to breathe.

    After all, you need to breathe to be able to need and long for food, shelter and clothing which hitherto have been termed the basic needs of man. As Covid-19 collapses all human structures, one structure stands, and stands as a refuge, the home. To fight this monster, we can only, and must, be home to contain the spread of the virus.

    As the home is the only refuge, then it is time to repair the roofs, mend the walls and fill up all holes, figuratively, speaking. Time to bond with family members and rekindle any dying affection.

    It is important to use this opportunity to give the home front the attention it deserves. Before now, the harsh economic situation, and the struggle by parents to make ends meet have resulted in the neglect of the homefront.

    Now we have ample time on our hands now to remedy that. Parents, this is the time to pay attention and tend to the beautiful flowers with which God has adorned our lives and homes, that is, the children. Do you know that while you were out there working, your children might have picked up some bad habits without you knowing? Make use of this time to tactfully find out and see how to readjust them.

    Use this time too to find out those hidden distresses, fears and anxieties of the children. Use this time to peer into their affairs, and be involved. Could it be possible that your child was/is being abused and bullied at home or school? This is time to find out. Do please find out. Make effective use of this opportunity to teach your children those little life lessons they need in order to grow up to responsible adults.

    I know you have always desired to do that but for time; now the time is here with the COVID-19 lockdown. Do you still remember that research has shown that about 80% of child sexual abuses take place in the child’s home, and are perpetrated by the people the child knows and is close to?

    The perpetrators could include the fathers, the uncles, family friends, family doctors, lesson teachers, pastors, domestic workers and the list goes on. Is your home safe and protective of the child from sexual abuse and molestation? You have all the time in your hand now to x-ray your home to ascertain how safe your home is for the child. The home is meant to be a haven for every child. What are the signs you can look out for to ascertain if your child is a victim of sexual abuse and molestation? Look out for the next article.

    Meanwhile, let me officially introduce and welcome you to THE WOCH SPACE where we shall be delving into issues that relate to women and children including their rights, their welfare and protection. We shall also be bringing news and events, the bad, the good and the ugly as they relate to, and touch on, women and children in our society. So that at the good, we give ourselves the thumbs up, we work at correcting the bad while frowning at the ugly ones so as to make a better space for women and children in our society. You are welcome. Keep a tap here. Till our next meeting here, maintain social distancing. Stay home. Stay safe.

    THE WOCH SPACE With OZIOMA ONYENWEAKU ozynweaku@gmail.com

  • Child found dead in plane at airport

    Child found dead in plane at airport

    A child stowaway was found dead Wednesday in the undercarriage of a plane at a Paris airport, officials said, having probably frozen to death or asphyxiated on the flight from Ivory Coast.
    The child, aged around 10, had clambered into the underbelly of the Air France Boeing 777 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
    It took off on Tuesday evening and landed at Charles de Gaulle airport, north of the capital, early Wednesday morning.
    The corpse, not warmly dressed, was found in the plane’s undercarriage cavity after landing, in what Air France described as “a human tragedy”.
    Sources close to the investigation told AFP the boy was about 10 years of age, and that he had “died either from asphyxiation or from the cold”.
    Temperatures drop to about minus 50 degrees Celsius (-58 degrees Fahrenheit) at altitudes of between 9,000 and 10,000 metres at which passenger planes generally fly.
    The undercarriage is neither heated nor pressurised.
    In recent years, several clandestine passengers, notably adolescents from Africa, have been found frozen to death or crushed in the undercarriage of Western-bound planes.
    “Aside from the human drama, this shows a major failing of security at Abidjan airport,” an Ivorian security source told AFP, asking how a child, alone, could gain such access.
    The last such case in France dates to April 2013, when the body of a boy, likely a minor, was similarly found in the undercarriage of a plane from Cameroon.
    Laure Palun, director of an association helping migrants, told AFP this type of drama was the inevitable result of the “closure and control of borders”.
    “It questions the logic of European migratory policy: As soon as there is no route for legal migration, people have to hide to reach the country they wish to go to, and this results in such tragedies.”
    Ivory Coast is a comparatively vibrant economy in Africa with an annual growth of eight percent since 2012. But illegal immigration to Europe has skyrocketed in recent years.
    In 2017, 8,753 migrants aged between 14 and 24 arrived in Italy from Ivory Coast, including 1,474 unaccompanied minors, according to the CEVI NGO.

  • Comedian Ajebo welcomes first child with wife

    Popular comedian and media personality, Emeka Erem better known as Ajebo, has welcomed his first child with Uchechi Kalu, his wife.
    The entertainer took to his Instagram page on Friday to share a series pictures of himself and his wife, including one where he’s seen bearing the infant in his arms while in the maternity room.
    Revealing the child’s name as Zikora Shefa Ngozi Erem, Ajebo said he’s convinced there were supernatural beings present during his child’s birth as he had witnessed the process himself.
    “God has done so much for us, We cannot tell it all. The journey to fatherhood has been super amazing with my ride or die. This is the best Christmas gift we could ever ask for. Our bundle of joy, Daddy’s girl. I saw with my 2 eyes the entire birth process,” he wrote.
    “I stood confident in the fact that the host of angels was in that room. God be praised. I celebrate you, my wonder woman, play buddy and best friend. Thank God for the gift of you and our bundle of Joy Zikora Shefa Ngozi Erem. It’s Ok to call me Daddy Zee!”
    TheNewsGuru recalls that sonorous gospel singer,Osinachi Kalu, better known as Sinach, had also recently welcomed her first child at the age of 46.

  • Police rescue six-year-old child sold for N100,000 to ritualist

    The Police Command in Anambra on Monday paraded one Monday Onyikwa from Umuefi Village, Nteje in Oyi Local Council Area for allegedly selling a six-year- old girl for ritual purposes.

    CP Rabiu Ladodo, who briefed newsmen in Awka, said the suspect was arrested in the bush with the victim, Chisom Egbunu.

    Ladodo said Onyikwa confessed that he was taking the child to one Nnamdi, a native doctor in Nando Village, Anambra Council Area who was also arrested.

    He said the man also confessed that he was paid N100,000 for the trafficking business, adding that the matter was still under investigation.

    The CP also paraded the masterminds of the viral video of a nude woman, Ogochukwu Okafor, who allegedly visited her Facebook friend, Ifeanyi Azotani and was humiliated by his wife and her friend.

    Azotani, his wife Toochukwu and her friend Nwankwo posted the nude video on the internet after the victim refused to pay them the sum of N60, 000 they demanded from her to kill the video.

    The command said it recovered seven cars including one black Toyota Venza, three Toyota Corolla, two Lexus-350 Jeep and a Toyota Rav 4 Jeep from an Asaba based robbery syndicate led by one Paul Chukwuezugo and an accomplice Michael Obinna.

    The commissioner said the syndicate had earlier robbed one Chinyere Onwuzulike of her Lexus Jeep in Orumba North council area.

    Items recovered from them include one Barreta pistol, three IPhone and a Samsung phone.

    He said the suspects have voluntarily confessed to the crime.

    Ladodo said a total of 113 suspected cultists were arrested with 45 of them already charged to court and 33 under investigation.

    According to him 35 of the cultists were screened out.

  • 800m Salah trek: Stop treating Buhari like a child learning to walk – PDP tells presidential aides

    Nigeria’s main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned presidential aides not to ridicule the nation by portraying its president like a child just learning to walk.

    The party was reacting to claims by the president’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu that President Muhammadu Buhari trekked a distance of 800 miles from his country home in Daura, Katsina State to the mosque where he went to pray during the recently concluded salah celebrations.

    The party said Nigerians will not be swayed by his claim that he walked 800 metres to demonstrate his health status and thereby ready for second term in office.

    Rather, the party said Nigerians would be looking for a competent and a knowledgeable President, who it said must have the capacity to tackle many problems facing the nation.

    The former ruling party wondered why walking what it described as a mere 800 metres had become a thing of joy to warrant a statement from the Presidency.

    It said that before the President and his aides could celebrate such a “feat”, the health situation of the President must have been in a precarious situation for some time.

    The National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, spoke with our correspondent while reacting to the claim by the Presidency that Buhari demonstrated fitness for the second term by the walking.

    Secondus wondered why “a mere walk” would become a yardstick to measure performance and readiness to lead a nation as big and as sophisticated as Nigeria.

    It was believed that President Buhari decided to walk from the Eid praying ground in Daura to his private residence on Tuesday to show that he was not sick as being claimed by Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State.

    Tambuwal, who recently defected from the All Progressives Congress to the PDP, had claimed that “there is a vacuum in the government occasioned by his (Buhari’s ) indisposition probably because of his old age or health condition. “

    The former Speaker of the House of Representatives added that this was why Nigerians had been yearning for younger people to lead the country.

    The President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, confirmed that the President decided to take the walk to reply those insinuating he might not be of good health.

    “The President is fit, he is healthy; he is good to go for the second term, “ Shehu added.

    Secondus, however, disagreed saying “a mere walk of 800 metres by the President was not enough to determine his health status and ability.”

    He said, “When does a mere walk become readiness of someone to lead? Why celebrating a mere walk of 800 metres? Was the President on a wheel chair before? Why treat him like a child who was just learning how to walk?

    “Is Nigeria or are Nigerians looking for walkers to lead them or someone who has the capacity to lead and tackle their problems?

    “Now, is that what Nigeria has become? Just that someone claimed he walked 800 metres, he is good to go. When he was younger about two or three years ago, we saw his capacity.

    “Is it now that he is old, hardly reads and hardly grants interviews that he would do better? No, tell them that what we need is not what he is offering us. Nigerians deserve more and he needs to do more to convince us that he can lead for the next four years.”

    He asked the aides of the President to stop ridiculing him with their claims.

    Secondus also asked Nigerians to note that the President would not be able to speak with them more than one to five minutes when political campaigns begin.

    “We will soon see the healthy and strong President addressing rallies for fewer minutes to demonstrate that he is healthy,” Secondus added.

     

  • Man flogged 80 times for drinking alcohol as a child

    Man flogged 80 times for drinking alcohol as a child

    Amnesty International has condemned the Iranian authorities for publicly flogging a man who was convicted of consuming alcohol when he was 14 or 15.

    Local media published photographs of the man – identified only as “M R” – being given 80 lashes in a square in the eastern city of Kashmar on Tuesday.

    Prosecutors say he was arrested in the Iranian year of 1385 (March 2006-March 2007) and sentenced the next year.

    It is not clear why the punishment was carried out more than 10 years later.

    The photographs show a young man tied to a tree being flogged by a masked man in uniform. A small crowd of people can be seen watching at a distance.

    “The circumstances of this case are absolutely shocking, representing another horrific example of the Iranian authorities’ warped priorities,” Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa Director, Philip Luther. said in a statement.

    “No-one, regardless of age, should be subjected to flogging; that a child was prosecuted for consuming alcohol and sentenced to 80 lashes beggars belief.”

    The Young Journalists Club website quoted Kashmar’s prosecutor as saying M R consumed alcohol at a wedding where an argument caused a fight in which a 17-year-old boy was killed. He was not suspected of involvement in the death.

    Article 265 of Iran’s Islamic penal code states that the punishment for consumption of alcohol by a Muslim is 80 lashes.

    More than 100 other offences are punishable by flogging, including theft, assault, vandalism, defamation and fraud, as well as acts that Amnesty said should not be criminalised, such as adultery, intimate relationships between unmarried men and women, “breach of public morals” and consensual same-sex sexual relations.

    Mr Luther said Iran should abolish all forms of corporal punishment.

    As a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the country was legally obliged to forbid torture and other cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment, he noted.

    “It’s simply unacceptable that the Iranian authorities continue to allow such punishments and to justify them in the name of protecting religious morals.”

    In 2014, six Iranians were sentenced to prison and 91 lashes after being arrested for appearing in a video dancing to Pharrell Williams’ song Happy.

    BBC

  • I lost my child, mum, business to Libya – Nigerian Returnee

    “It has not been easy at all. I had a flourishing hairdressing business before I went to Libya. But, I have lost everything. I also lost my mother and my 11-year-old son, while I was away. When they could not connect with me, my mother died of heart attack, while my son died because there was nobody to take care of him. But, I thank God I came back alive. I will start all over again; I believe I will make it in Nigeria. No more going out of the country,” Naomi, 30, narrated her ordeal of the journey to Europe through Libya.

    I lost my child, mum, business to Libya - Nigerian Returnee
    Jubilant returnees at the reintegration training programme in Lagos. Photo source: themigrantproject.com.

    Naomi was participating in a reintegration training programme in Lagos sponsored by the European Union (EU) and International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in collaboration with the Federal Government of Nigeria. She and other participants shared their experiences about reintegrating to life in Nigeria after being deported.

    Most Nigerians who embark on irregular migration to Europe imagine that their lives will be greatly improved once they reach their destinations. Unfortunately, the reality for most is vastly different. Many lose their lives during the journey. Those who do make it to their destination usually face all manners of difficulties and wish to return home, but end up feeling stranded and trapped in a foreign land. Others are summarily deported.

    Like Naomi, many deported migrants had thriving businesses in Nigeria before they embarked on the journey, but left behind a solid livelihood for the promise of a better life that never materialized and often ending up penniless or in severe debt.

    Once back in Nigeria, deported migrants often face additional frustrations and find it difficult to fit into communities they had chosen to leave in search of something better.

    Thirty-two-year-old Ubo from Akwa Ibom State said life had become so unbearable since he returned to Nigeria that he had even contemplated suicide.

    “I came back on May 11, 2017, and since then life has been very tough. I was at the verge of committing suicide. I wanted to end it once and for all because I didn’t know where to start again. I came back with nothing; I lost everything,” he said.

    According to the IOM, over 8,000 Nigerians in Libya have voluntarily returned to home between January and May 2018 due to cases of inhuman treatments, human trafficking and slavery, rape and death.

  • Gender inequality: Akeredolu’s wife advocates for equal treatment for girl, boy child

    The wife of the Ondo State Governor, Mrs Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, has advocated for equal treatment of male and female children in all strata to forestall societal ills and inequality meted to female folks.

    Mrs Akeredolu made the call at inauguration of Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo Female Staff Association in Ondo West Local Government area.

    The inauguration’s theme was ‘Pressforprogress’.

    “Gender disparity starts at an early age and In truth, the quickest way to close the gender gap is for our girls and indeed our boys to understand that there is no difference in their ability to achieve.

    “And that they have equal rights in the political, social, economic and political sphere,” she said.

    Mrs Akeredolu said that UN reports that an estimated 15 million girls under age of 18 are married worldwide and about 62 million denied of education.

    According to her, it is time to teach all children that they have equal value to their society and family and that they have vibrant and qualitative part to move the nation forward.

    “Female children should no longer be cowered in the shadows and speak in hushed tones.

    ” As the theme says, we should encourage them to be bold and outspoken, to be educated and be more determined and to press for progress,” she advised.

    The governor’s wife said that women had suffered too long and that they owed it to future generation to ensure that ‘they do not experience what we have experienced.’

    “We should leave behind better world with better policies, better opportunities and more honour for females .

    “And establish and maintain a gender parity mindset.

    She noted that the present administration in the state had highest female representation in governance in the history of the state.

    Mrs Akeredolu said she hoped that the event would galvanized the interest of the college to become truly enablers in empowering women to bridge the gap.

    Dr Martina Onuegbu, the Director, Directorate of Gender and Sustainable Development Studies (DGSDS), said that the inauguration was a brainchild of the DGSDS and the need for female staff of the college to be emancipated.

    Onuegbu noted that it was for struggle and empowerment of women in combating societal inequality and inequities.

    She added that it was for uniting all female staff of the college irrespective of their age, religion or cadre.

    The director observed that the theme for the occasion was contrively coined to be squeezed together of depicting how women should come together.

    ” As there is no gap between the words, it’s expected that women should not allow any gap in their progress but rather be united because when women come together, something good happens.

    “This association is, therefore, a forum for female staff of the college to express their views on issues of importance and not just to socialise.

    “The essence is to influence one another and their environment and be emancipated from patriarchal dominations and societal stereotypes,” she stated.

    Onuegbu said that the association was not a struggle in competition with men but that it was based on orientation and understanding that women had to achieve greatness and that they were an asset to their society.

    Prof. Olukoya Ogen, the college’s provost, said that he was happy seeing women coming together for something positive.

    Ogen noted that women are specially endowed to care, nurture, protect and promote development.

    According to him, the association will bring good fortune, hope, solidarity, academic and administrative excellence and human capacity development to the institution.

    The provost stated that it was his desire to see the association to become a rallying point for fostering development and advancing progress in the college.

    Ogen asked the association to help checkmate social ills on campus and build a better college and mentor each other to strive for success especially in various careers as academics and administrators.

    “As women, I expect you to handle the students as your own and protect their interests,” he stated.

    An award of Distinguished Female Gender Advocate was given to the wife of the governor.