The Gender Adolescent School Health and Elderly Care (GASHE) division of The Family Health Department of the Federal Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Parenting for Lifelong Health and the Global Parenting Initiative at the University of Oxford, came together for a workshop aimed at enhancing parenting interventions in Nigeria.
The workshop was held in Abuja on Tuesday, March 26, and was part of a project funded through the Japan government by the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children (GPEVAC).
The workshop tagged: “Scaling Positive Parenting to Reduce Violence against Children in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Context of the Triple Threat of COVID-19, Conflict and Climate Crisis,” attracted participants from various ministries, UN agencies, and non-governmental agencies.
The workshop brought together key stakeholders to address issues surrounding parenting in the country.
The objective is to help several countries – Nigeria included – to enhance their national infrastructure, making it easier to provide and scale evidence-based parenting programmes towards preventing violence against children.
Lanre Issa-Onilu, the Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), was the guest speaker at the event.
In his remarks he emphasized the vital role of responsible parenting in shaping the future of Nigerian children.
He also addressed the challenges of absentee parenting and the influence of foreign media on children’s development.
He disclosed that the NOA is collaborating with the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to regulate television content and promote locally produced cartoons.
”Some of the steps we are currently taking at NOA with regards to en-placing responsible parenting includes our current engagements with cartoon creators aimed at ensuring that the cartoons that our children watch going forward are reflective of our heroes, our culture, our folklore, our diversity, our challenges, and our victories.
”We are taking these engagements with cartoon creators with the highest degree of seriousness and commitment because, even though many of you may not have noticed, we are currently raising foreigners in our various homes across Nigeria. The cartoon contents that our children spend hours watching and which are shaping their character and worldview do not project the nuances of our culture and values,” he said.
Onilu also revealed that the agency would be establishing initiatives such as Citizens Brigades in primary and secondary schools to instill ”positive values” in Nigerian children.
(Premium Times)
