Tag: sex education

  • CSOs commence awareness campaign on sex education, substance abuse across Abuja schools, communities

    CSOs commence awareness campaign on sex education, substance abuse across Abuja schools, communities

    A group of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) under the umbrella of School Outreach for Better Education (SOBE) has embarked on a transformative outreach campaign across some secondary schools and communities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    The campaign, centred on comprehensive sex education, substance abuse prevention, and anti-bullying strategies, among others, is aimed at redirecting the potential and energy of the youths toward productive ventures.

    The outreach is also aimed to engage, enlighten, and empower adolescents and young adults on pertinent geo-social matters and preventing them from social vices.

    SOBE said the partnership is a reflection and collective determination to create a brighter future for Nigerian youth by equipping them with knowledge, skills, and support to navigate societal challenges and excel academically.

    The group disclosed this on Thursday in a press statement signed by the Executive Director of A New Thing Foundation, Ambassador Kenneth Anetor on behalf of the group.

    The civil society organisations includes; A New Thing International Foundation, Caleb Initiative for Drug Abuse Awareness, Ikio’s Foundation, Julie Education Foundation, Kingcity Global Solutions, Hearts and Frames, May Foundation, Notchlens  and other passionate individuals.

    Some of the schools visited includes; Pace Setters School, Government Secondary School Airport, Government Day Secondary School Dutse Alhaji, and several others across various communities in Abuja.

    The statement read “in a concerted effort to enhance education and address pressing social issues, three civil society organisations alongside dedicated individuals under the umbrella of School Outreach for Better Education (SOBE) have embarked on a transformative outreach campaign across the Abuja metropolis.

    “The initiative, spearheaded by A New Thing International Foundation, Caleb Initiative for Drug Abuse Awareness, Ikio’s Foundation, Julie Education Foundation, Kingcity Global Solutions, Hearts and Frames, May Foundation, Notchlens  and other passionate individuals aims to engage, enlighten, and empower adolescents and young adults on pertinent geo-social matters.

    “Topics covered include comprehensive sex education, substance abuse prevention, and anti-bullying strategies, among others.

    “Throughout the month of March, the coalition visited numerous educational institutions, including Pace Setters School, Government Secondary School Airport, Government Day Secondary School Dutse Alhaji, and several others across various communities in Abuja.

    “Ambassador Kenneth Anetor, the Executive Director of A New Thing Foundation and Consultant to the Senate Committee on Drugs and Narcotics, emphasized that this initiative marks the inception of a nationwide series of outreach programs dedicated to fostering education and eradicating social vices hindering the academic progress of adolescents.

    “Anetor urged well-meaning Nigerians, governmental bodies, private organisations, and fellow NGOs to unite with the coalition of passionate individuals and groups committed to advancing educational development.

    “The collaborative efforts of SOBE and its partnering organisations reflect a collective determination to create a brighter future for Nigerian youth by equipping them with knowledge, skills, and support to navigate societal challenges and excel academically”.

  • Sex education: A rejoinder to Adeleye-Fayemi’s letter to the minister

    Sex education: A rejoinder to Adeleye-Fayemi’s letter to the minister

    By Mary Ekemezie

    First, I would like to thank the Hon. Minister of Education for directing that sex education should be removed from the basic education curriculum. In the directive, the Hon Minister acknowledged the inalienable roles of parents as the primary educators of their children. I eagerly await the enforcement of the Hon. Minister’s directive.

    Now, let me respond to Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi’s open letter to the Minister, which was published in The Vanguard Newspaper on 6th November, 2022 (the “Letter”). In her letter, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi urges the Honourable Minister of Education, to have a rethink about his directive and to consider retaining sex education in the basic education curriculum, albeit with some modifications.

    Before responding to the specific issues raised in the letter, I daresay that it is a good thing that we are having a national discourse on our national values, the role of education, religion and parental rights.

    In advancing the reasons for her support for the inclusion of sex education in the basic education curriculum, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi recalled the story of Tanwa, the thirteen-year-old girl, impregnated by a neighbour. We must not lose sight of how and why Tanwa got pregnant – a neighbour who abused the trust that she reposed in him abused Tanwa. I sympathise deeply with Tanwa and with every other girl who has been the victim of sexual abuse. It is a terrible thing to be abused by persons who are responsible for you. I do hope she got the support she needed to get past that ugly event and to rebuild her trust in humanity and to forge a fresh path for herself.

    Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi also alluded to the fact that parents are unable to discharge their duties of providing sex education to their children because of the economic situation in the country, which requires them to work round the clock to make ends meet. This is a sweeping statement if there was ever one. This statement does not take into consideration that many parents who, despite their incredibly busy schedule, make time to parent.

    In the Letter, one of reasons she also proffered to the Honourable Minister of Education to support her position that we should leave sex education in the curriculum, is that religious leaders are some of the persons on the sexual offenders list. I have not seen this list, but it is safe to say that not everyone on that list is a religious leader. It is also safe to say that we do not know the moral values of all the teachers in the various schools across Nigeria. In much the same way as she has alluded to religious leaders being sexual offenders, stories abound in the dailies of teachers abusing children placed in their care.
    Do not get me wrong, I am not condoning or excusing the vile act of abusing children physically, or sexually, or in any other manner. I am, however, constrained to point out that not all religious leaders abuse the position of trust conferred on them. There are still many good men and women who serve God with their whole heart and who do the right thing. Should we, then, because of a small percentage of irresponsible spiritual leaders, take away a service that these spiritual leaders provide? To spin-back Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi’s argument to her, how do I know that the teacher in the class is not a paedophile or a sex groomer who has simply not been caught?

    I turn now to an issue the Letter did not speak to – the actual content of the sex education that is being provided to Nigerian children, under the guise of learning. Dear Reader, I crave your indulgence to reproduce some of the texts (a mixture of indoctrination, half-truths and outright lies) of what children are learning in school.

    In the inspire video series, the Balance in Nature video which is meant for students in SS3 encourages sterilisation – the cutting of the sperm duct as a beautiful method of family planning – and the presenter in the video recommends it for all men since it is of a permanent nature.  The video also encourages hysterectomy.  To put it in context, this video will probably be seen by students who are aged 14 to 18 years. I leave it to your imagination to decipher why our educational system is encouraging young children to be sterilised.

    The Active Basic science, 2014 edition, which is meant for Basic 6 (children aged 9 to 11) describes the actual nature (experience) of the sexual act. Why we need this level of graphic detail for children in primary school, I do not have an answer to.

    Stigma, a literature textbook, downplays the dangers of HIV.  This literature textbook suggests that having sex with a condom keeps one safe from HIV. The text does not speak about the fact that condoms are not fool-proof and have been known to fail.  It also encourages kissing HIV patients.  Question – are we encouraging our children to experiment with having sex with HIV patients?

    The Basic Science & Technology for Junior Secondary School 1, which is meant for children aged between 10 and 12 years (maybe 13 years), states that “safe sex” is a way to care for reproductive organs. Arguably, it could be said that this book is encouraging children to have “safe sex” as a way of caring for their reproductive organs. A review of the table of contents of for this book (Basic Science & Technology for Junior Secondary School 1) reveals that of the 30 weeks of study in the academic year, 11 weeks ((more than one-third of the contents of the textbook) is devoted to sex, sexual matters and the reproductive system). I am hard-pressed to understand why we need to spend so much time discussing sex with children whose primary aim at this stage of development is the acquisition of knowledge and virtues to guide their way through life.

    One of the topics discussed in the Basic Science & Technology for Junior Secondary School 2 (a book meant for children between the ages of 10 and 14) is abstinence.  You would think that abstinence means abstaining from sex – which is what the children need at this age -, but I have news for you.  As presented in the textbook, this topic is ambivalent about the moral value of abstinence, and does not convey the importance and rationale for abstinence.  Given the developmental stage of the children, I would expect (as was my experience when I was in school), that the focus of the education would be to teach the children how to make objective judgment calls about the rightness or wrongness of an action.
    Unless the intention of the NERDC and the authors of this textbook is to encourage children to engage in sexual activities, I would expect that the focus of the learning at this stage is to enable the children to cultivate good habits such as delayed gratification, discipline and respect for themselves and others.

    Oh, and I forgot to mention, that as part of learning unfamiliar words in the English Language subject, they introduce children as young as 8 years to the word “masturbation”. Again, I leave it to your imagination to understand why an 8-year-old needs to learn this word.

    I could go on, but I guess I have said enough to enable every reader of goodwill to decide whether we need this kind of sex education in the lives of our children.

    What our children need, in addition to the acquisition of technical and vocational skills, is an education which helps them to understand and to develop healthy habits, good decision-making skills, and a strong sense of meaning and purpose.   They need an education that does not lower the bar for them but calls them to pursue excellence. They need an education that is valued based and recognises our cultural and religious heritage and the place of morals.

    To address the concerns about parents being busy, I propose that as part of the commencement exercises at the beginning of every academic year, a session on sex education is organised for parents who can then pass it on to their children, taking cognisance of their physical, psychological, spiritual and emotional development.

    In addition, we need incentives that support parents to fulfil their parental duties. We need more family-friendly policies and workplaces at the national and state levels, and we should implement these policies in both the public and private sectors. There should also be more opportunities for remote-working to enable parents to spend more time with their children. Finally, and very importantly, the government should provide tax breaks that encourage and afford parents the opportunity to explore the option of not having both parents working full time.

     

    Mary Ekemezie
    Legal Practitioner
    Lagos

  • The case against sex education – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    The case against sex education – By Sonnie Ekwowusi

    Last week, a group of pro-choice NGOs staged a protest against the Hon. Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu for directing the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to expunge the current immoral sex education taught in Nigerian schools from the school curriculum. Worried about the immoral content of sex education curriculum in Nigeria and the wrong method deployed in using it to corrupt impressionable secondary school and primary school pupils most of whom are in the age bracket of 5-14 years, the Hon. Minister had directed last week that the immoral sex education should be removed from the school curriculum and that the teaching of sex education should be left in the hands of parents who are the primary educators of their children and religious institutions which are the custodians of morals of young people. Rather than sexualize and damaging the character of our school pupils with a pernicious sex education, the Hon. Minister prefers that parents and religious institutions should teach sex education in order to safeguard the morals of our school pupils.

    But the Hon. Minister’s directive has not gone down well with some pro-choice NGOs. Last week they issued a statement stating, among other things, that the Minister’s directive is a hindrance to progress in providing school pupils and teenagers with factual information and skills on teen safe-sex and reproductive health (otherwise known as abortion) that are necessary for young people to make rational decisions about their bodies. Also faulting the Hon. Minister on the said directive, a wife of a former State Governor, who over the years has gained notoriety as child safe-sex radical activist, has written a letter to the Hon. Minister stating, inter alia, that the Nigerian government should embrace the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) of the notorious pro-abortion foreign NGO called the United Nations Population Funds (UNFPA).

    The government should just ignore the protesting pro-choice NGOs and the wife of the former State Governor. Under the so-called CSE which the wife of the ex-State Governor is prescribing to the government (I have a copy of it right in front me as I scribble this), school pupils in open classrooms are required to touch each other’s genital saying: “I like you”. The pupils are also expected to touch each other’s private parts and find out the differences in their respective private parts. For years now I have been following the corruption and sexualization of the Nigerian kids by the UNFPA. Under the youth peer sexuality education Training Guide/Toolkit, funded by the UNFPA and used in many public secondary schools in Nigeria, (which I also have in front of me at the moment), the students are told to share with other students with whom they feel more comfortable things like: “Your sexual fantasies (fantasies), “Your feelings about oral sex (oral)”, “Whether you enjoy erotic material (X), “Whether you have fantasized about a homosexual relationship (gay-fan),” “Whether you have had a homosexual relationship (gay-exp)”. On page 75 of the Guide, there is a condom relay race activity involving boys and girls. It instructs the peer leader to “Ask two volunteers (participants or co-facilitators) to hold the two penis models” and then to invite two teams to race to put the condoms on the models.

    I remember that in 2014 the same UNFPA organized what it dubbed the third Family Planning Pre-Conference which was held at the Reiz Continental Hotel, Abuja. At that Conference, the UNFPA launched a condom-safe-sex campaign entitled, “No Hoodie No Honey”. This campaign was widely reported in the Nigerian media. The campaign was also posted on Twitter, Facebook and on other social media. The campaign was targeted at young Nigerian girls in the age bracket of 14-18. The campaign was aimed at supplying condoms and contraceptives to these young Nigerian girls and convincing them that “safe-sex” is their right and therefore they shouldn’t be ashamed to practice “safe sex” even if the different Nigerian cultures and religions teach otherwise. For example, one of the inscriptions on the No Hoodie No Honey roll-up stand posted on Twitter read: “Lets push for easy access to the female condom and that a woman may buy condoms without being shamed” First: the campaign was tainted by fraud and deception. While scientific evidence consistently shows that the condoms, which contain naturally-occurring holes, do not protect its user against infections and against HIV and rarely protect against unwanted pregnancy, the UNFPA fraudulently masquerades about the cities of Nigeria and giving the Nigerian youths the false hope that condoms protect from any misdeed.

    It beats the imagination that the UNFPA and others are corrupting Nigerian children with immoral CSE under the watch of the government. The American College of Pediatricians has said that CSE is one of the greatest assaults on the health and innocence of children because, unlike traditional sexuality education, CSE highly and explicitly promotes sexual promiscuity and high-risk sexual behaviors among children and teenagers. CSE programs have an almost obsessive focus on teaching children how to obtain sexual pleasure in various ways. (Please visit this site https://youtu.be/6yTvdCHgEHQ) and view the 11 minute video to see evidence of the harmful elements of CSE . The video provides just 15 harmful elements typically found in CSE curricula. Since each of these 15 harmful elements has the potential of causing long-term negative effects on the health and well-being of children, having even one of these elements should be reason enough to disqualify a CSE program from being taught to children in our schools. CSE harms children in the following ways and therefore should be banned in our schools. Sexualizes children; teaches children to consent to sex; normalizes anal and oral sex: promotes homosexual/bisexual behavior; promotes sexual pleasure; promotes solo and/or mutual masturbation; promotes condom use in inappropriate ways; promotes early sexual autonomy; fails to establish abstinence as the expected standard; promotes transgender ideology; promotes contraception and abortion to children; promotes peer-to-peer sex education or sexual rights advocacy; undermines traditional values and beliefs; undermines parents or parental rights; refers children to harmful resources. These are not invented by me. Please visit: www.waronchildren.org and www.investigateippf.org)

    Aside from the CSE, many textbooks used in Nigerian schools have been corrupted too with lewd matters. You may be well aware that in the last twenty years or so, classical English literature books and novels such as Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Weep Not Child, Things Fall Apart, Zambia Shall be Free, The Man Died, African Child, Akin the Drummer Boy, Mine Boy, The gods are not to blame and so forth have been removed from our school curricula and replaced with sex-related local English literature books containing lewd subject-matters to give the unsuspecting young school pupils the wrong impression that self-control is unnecessary and that casual sex makes them feel good; that they should engage in casual sex before marriage; that ‘safe sex’ is what to aim for in life provided that they don’t get pregnant. And if they do get pregnant they should procure abortion as soon as possible. It is unfortunate that we now live in a highly-sexualized society. And one of the negative consequences of this is the sexualisation of primary and secondary school pupils. At every turn — TV, music, movies, sex education in schools — pre-teen, teens, school pupils and teenagers are daily bombarded with the tragically misguided message borrowed from abroad that safe-sex in all deviant forms, LGBT1+, gay marriage, transgenderism, and bestiality are good for them and that the resultant outcome holds no dangers for them.

    About 16 years ago, an NGO called the Concerned Mothers Association, Lagos, ace broadcaster Adesuwa Onyenokwe and others brought a law suit against the Lagos State government at the Federal High Court, Lagos over the sexualization of the Integrated Science curriculum to include the techniques of kissing, masturbation, breast enlargement, how to do abortion, how girls can sterilize themselves and be having sex without becoming pregnant and so forth I was one of the counsel for the plaintiffs in that suit. The lead counsel in the suit was Mrs. Sylvia Sinaba SAN (of blessed memory). I remember that when the matter was called in court, the judge, who happened to be a female, was completely stunned by the sexualized issues pleaded by the plaintiffs in their Statement of Claim. In her shock, she first took up the Statement of Claim, held it up momentarily in her right hand and queried, “What is this?”. “My Lord, these are what they are now teaching them in schools”, responded Mrs. Sylvia Sinaba SAN. Silence enveloped the courtroom. The judge was dumbfounded. Anyway, to cut the long story short, the matter was amicably resolved out of court. In the spirit of amicable settlement, the Lagos State government at that time yanked off the offensive portion of the Integrated Science curriculum although I suspect that by now it has been brought back into the curriculum.

    Between from March 27 to 29 2017, I attended a Conference which took place at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island, Lagos,. One of the Speakers at that Conference was Ahmed Akanbi, a Muslim parent and a Lagos-based legal practitioner. Midway in his presentation, Ahmed did something which shocked most of the Conference attendees. He carefully dipped his hands into his handbag and brought out two English literature books containing some lewd subject-matters and showed them to the audience. He told us that the two books were recommended books for primary six pupils in the primary school attended by his daughter. The title of the first book authored by Oyekunle Oyedeji is: Tears of a bride, while the second book written by Queen O. Okweshine bears the title: Precious Child. According to Ahmed, his 9-year old daughter in Primary 6 came back home from school one day and engaged him in a conversation that bothered on some sex experiences. At first, Ahmed was utterly stunned that his 9 year old daughter was conversant with sex matters. But after he had regained his composure he asked his daughter where she learned about those sex experiences. It was then that his daughter opened her mouth and narrated to him how their school teacher has been using the aforesaid two books to teach them how to practice “safe sex” and how to gain sexual pleasure. Ahmed read to the hearing of the participants some sexy portions of the two books. The participants rose to their feet in utter shock.

    Seven years ago, some Lagos-based NGOs also filed a law suit at the Federal High Court, Lagos against the Federal Ministry of Education and others over the smearing of the following textbooks used in many secondary schools in Nigeria- New School Chemistry for Senior Secondary Schools By: Osei Yaw Ababio; Revised by: L. E.S Akpanisi Herbert Igwe ; Modern Biology for Senior Secondary School By: Sarojini T. Ramalingam, revised by Lucy I Akunwa and J.BC Obidiwe and the New School Physics for Senior Secondary By: M. W Anyakoha PhD-with the following watermark inscriptions: “I know that My Mother is a harlot and that my Father is a Kidnapper”, “I am a son/daughter of a Harlot and kidnapper”, “I confess that my Family is bad, Evil, and a Disgrace to the Nation”, “My Parents Taught me how to love and smoke Indian Hemp, to kill and practice illegal things”. I was the leading counsel for the plaintiffs in the suit. Guess what happened thereafter? The publishers of the lewd textbooks came all the way from Onitsha to our law firm in Lagos to beg for amicable settlement of the matter out of court.

    Even many English, Mathematics and Social Science textbooks used in many Nigerian secondary schools have been corrupted to include lewd matters in order to sexualize the young students. For instance, in Mathematics, a typical Maths question for primary school pupils is: “20 condoms + 5 condoms-2 condoms equals…”. At the moment in my little office, I have the latest lewd-textbooks or sexualized textbooks used in corrupting our secondary school pupils in Nigeria. They include: Basic science Junior Secondary School Razat Publishers, 2018 edition, (for JSS3). Open pages 78 – 83 to see the harmful contents of the book- lesson on teenage pregnancy, types of abortions students can do, myths & facts about pregnancy, indoctrination of the pupils on terminology of unsafe & safe abortion, six ways to prevent pregnancy with contraceptives, how to enjoy ‘safe sex’ without pregnancy: false information on four types of abstinence of which none is the actual definition of abstinence to be promoted among adolescents. Active Basic Science, 2014 edition By Tola Anjorin, Okechukwu Okolo, Philias Yara, Bamidele Mutiu, Fatima Koki, Lydia Gbagu: See Pages 31- 34. Cry for Justice By Ademola Adefila; See Pages 60-61, 64-65, read the description of having sex and sexual experience. Stigma By Samson O Shobayo, See the pages. The book encourages sexual relationship with HIV patients; kissing. Basic Science & Technology for Junior Secondary School 1, 2 and 3: By W.K Hamzat, S. Bakare: See Pages 29- 47 Page 48-52 Page 64 Pages 67- 73 and Pages 86 of the three books which promote abortion, LGTB, masturbation and safe-sex with condoms. New Concept English for Senior Secondary Schools for SSS2, Revised edition (2018 edition) By J Eyisi, A Adekunle, T Adepolu, F Ademola Adeoye, Q Adams and, J Eto, See Pages 103- 104 that contain obscene and vulgar expressions such as : “small men always thinking small and acting small ”and these vulgar words:. “He swore by the grey hairs of his head and his penis…even by the cunt of his own mother”.

    It is high time Nigerian parents woke up to their parental responsibilities. Parents are the primary educators of their children. They cannot shirk this responsibility under the excuse that they are working hard to eke out a living. Most social vices in Nigeria today are caused by failed parenting. We are in trouble in Nigeria. Failed parenting engenders failed political leadership. This is regrettable. The family institution, unarguably, is indeed the fundamental unit of society. The family is the natural context in which children imbibe those cherished values which form the superstructures for the building of our national ethos. Therefore parents should rediscover themselves and reinvigorate their respective families to enable them to parent their own children to be responsible citizens. Our civilization is imperiled when families are imperiled.

  • Minister calls for removal of sex education in schools

    Minister calls for removal of sex education in schools

    The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu,  has called for the removal of sex education from the basic education curriculum.

    He made this known at the Ministerial Session of the 66th National Council on Education (NCE) meeting in Abuja on Thursday, November 3.

    The Minister said, immediately he saw Sex Education in the curriculum, he called the attention of the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) Executive Secretary to see that it was expunged. According to him, sex education should be left in the hands of parents and religious institutions and not to be taught in schools in a manner that would further corrupt little children who are already having access to phones and technologies.

    He emphasised that Nigeria was a religious country and as such the morals and values taught in the Church and Mosque in addition to efforts of the parents were enough to bring up a child with solid character.

    “While I accompanied the President on his recent trip to the New York, one highly placed government official called my attention to certain materials on sex education being used in schools, and I almost collapsed because I never expected that.

    I am one of those persons who believe that sex education should not be taught in our schools. Rather, such knowledge and experience should shared through other means that are known to man.

    For me, there are three ways through which sex education could profitably be impacted on adults. First is instinctual. Instinct will be the first teacher for you as regards sex and several other things when the time comes.

    The second way is through the process of socialization. Many other things that are not taught in schools or at home comes through the process of socialization which most often, are acquired through interactions or engagements with peers.

    Then the third way is through the religious and cultural instructions. From all indications, the increasing advocacy for sex education in schools is targeted at undermining and destroying the moral and religious fiber of our society. Regrettably, it’s being promoted through the social media and other forms of westernization.

    Many Nigerians seem to believe that all that comes from the western world is the best because they have advanced in technology. Even the technology is not totally good. The only thing technology does to our lives is speed. It doesn’t make one a better person or something else.

    We don’t have any thing better than the religious beliefs and values we have in Nigeria, and we all love our religions. Unfortunately, religion has been misinterpreted and we have allowed it to reshape our lives negatively. We can’t afford to loose our religious values, otherwise, we would loose everything and doom would beckon.”

  • Educationist task parents on sex education

    An Educationist and Head Teacher, Claret International School, Abuja, has advised parents to engage their children on sex education at home from early years.

    Ms Olukayode Ige gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Abuja.

    The expert said that sex education must be age appropriate and could commence from two years.

    She said that information for certain age group must be transferred appropriately as sexual abuse was becoming rampant and children from the age of two were becoming victims.

    Ige explained that sex education has become pertinent due to the rise of sexual abuse among children in the society.

    She said children were abused sexually at homes by relatives, in schools by teachers or students, and social gatherings by strangers, hence the need for children to be abreast with safety rules.

    The educationist said children need to understand and be aware of their body parts as well as being conscious of their environment and whoever they are with.

    She said that parents need to teach their children that their private part was meant for them alone and needs to be covered at all times.

    Ige added that parents should encourage their children to be strong and speak out whenever someone tries to see or touch their private areas and not die in silence.

    According to her, there are five safety rules that parents should teach their children.

    She listed the safety rules to include touch alert, being alone alert, talk alert, see alert and hold alert.

    “Touch alert, means no one is supposed to touch their private areas only the people mummy or daddy approves of.

    “Secondly, being alone with a stranger is called alone alert and on no account should a child be left alone at home, with neighbours or even in the classroom.

    “Thirdly, talk alert means every child must have the confidence to speak out when confronted with such situation and parents must have the patience to listen carefully to them.

    “Fourthly, see alert means children should not be allowed to view movies that are not censored, naked persons or pictures and parental control should be activated on cable networks.

    “While lastly, hold alert means children should not be held in sensitive areas of their body, they should ensure no one kisses their children except family members,’’ Ige said.

    She added that parents should ensure the girl child do not sit on the lap of any male including uncles while parents should also avoid getting dressed in front of their children.

    Teenage children, she said, must be taught the right values of sex so that the society does not teach them the wrong one.

  • Sexual-abuse: Parents must know their children’s peer groups

    Sexual-abuse: Parents must know their children’s peer groups

    Parents must not allow their children, especially the girl-child, to relocate elsewhere without discretion and adequate provisions so as not to be vulnerable to sexual abuse and other vices.

    The Director, Foundation for African Cultural Heritage (FACH), an NGO, Dr. Theresa Okafor, gave the advice in an interview in Lagos.

    Okafor said that evil communications corrupt good manners and it was incumbent on parents to know who their children’s friends and peer groups are so that they would not become prey to unsuspecting predators.

    She said that some studies had shown that childhood abuse was a significant factor in those who had allegedly been identified as homosexual.

    She advised husbands and wives to always stay together so that they could serve as role models to their children.

    “However, we must not ignore the causes of such childhood abuses which arose from dysfunctional families and alcoholic parents.’’

    Parents must be involved in giving sex education to the girl-child to guide them against sexual abuses but prepare them for motherhood.

    Okafor said that mothers as primary educators of their children were in the best position to teach their children what sex-education entailed early in life.

    When they grow up, they would understand how to handle it and not imbibe such vices as same-sex marriage, lesbianism, and homosexuals, she said.

    “There is a huge disparity between chronological age and maturation age. Children mature at different ages and age-appropriateness may be far-fetched in our differentiated setting.

    “Sex education lessons can give rise to unintended effects which may defeat their intended purpose, especially, within mixed schools.

    “I think that sex education is a function of upbringing which belongs to the parents who are the primary educators of their children.

    “But, many parents need proper orientation to know how to fulfill this role.

    “ I do not think that sex education can be effectively handled by schools, especially, when the quality of education remains a huge challenge yet to be overcome,’’ she said.

    Okafor said that schools and religious organizations should complement the roles of parents when the children were of school-age after mothers would have laid solid foundations.

    Schools and faith-based organizations could speak to children especially on the beauty of chastity, self-control, and delayed gratification, she said.

    It could be part of career orientation and goal setting for children, she said.

    “These are meaningful ways to engage pupils and students that will result in raising people with learning and character,’’ she said.