The Chairman of the Lagos Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Adeleye Ajayi on Monday called for special focus on training and empowerment of the Nigerian boy child.
Ajayi made the call in an interview with our correspondent on International Day of the Boy Child.
The day is celebrated globally on May 16 to focus on boys and their wellbeing.
He said that there was neglect of issues concerning the boy child in the nation.
The MUM chairman said that boys needed to be taught the right skills and morals for healthy and safe society.
He cited examples of how boys in the rural areas and even cities not properly guided take to crime and other vices hence, the need to pay more attention to them.
Ajayi called for technical training for boys who were not able to cope with regular school as well as other initiatives to keep them positively busy for the overall good of the nation.
He said that the NUJ would continue to sensitise the public and was planning quarterly programmes for boys across Lagos schools, towards inculcating good morals and skills in them.
“What we will keep on doing is to propagate the initiative that the boy-child should not be neglected at the detriment of the girl child because if you go to remand homes, you find a lot of boys who have committed one misdemeanor or the other,’’ he said.
He urged primary school teachers to mentor boys early on responsible behaviour, while urging parents to be proactive in training the boy child to keep them away from crime and other social ills.
Also speaking with NAN, Mrs Adeola Ekine, chairperson, Lagos chapter of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), urged parents to give both male and female children equal treatment.
Ekine said there was too much focus on the difficulties girls face, with no one giving thought to issues affecting boys in the society.
She said that NAWOJ would keep encouraging mothers as home builders to pay more attention to upbringing of boys.
NAWOJ, according to her, has programmes lined up for boys in collaboration with NUJ.
“I believe we should also concentrate on the boy child, they are less represented and I am saying that out of experience.
“People say the girl-child is being raped, but boys are raped every day and nobody is talking about it,’’ she said.
Ekine advised parents to assign same responsibilities to both sexes.
She said that exempting boys from specific chores perceived to be for only girls would make them grow up being egoistic.
“As we celebrate the International Day of the Boy-child today, I want to encourage parents, especially mothers, to give attention to their boys, and for fathers to also try to lead by example because what a child sees tends to stay in his or her memory long enough till they enter into matrimony, till they start mixing around, even when they start their various jobs and all that.
“So, from the home-front we should make sure that we don’t discriminate between our boy and girl child,’’ she said.
The NAWOJ chairperson said boys must be trained to respect, help and support their sisters.
She said that this orientation would ensure they do not abuse or batter women in future.
Ekine said that the boy-child should also be trained to see himself as someone who should serve and not one to always be served by females and other people.