Ondo fetes young authors on girl-child education 

To further actualise the goals of Adolescent and Youth Friendly Health Programme (AYFHP) in Ondo State, the state government and some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have feted teenage twin authors.

The authors wrote a novel titled: “The Stigma That Refuses To Go,” to sensitise peers on girl-child development and sex education.

The authors, Taiwo and Kehinde Adegbola, were celebrated by the State Ministry of Health at the premiere of a soap opera titled: “Make Hay While The Sun Shines,” at the Filmhouse Cinema, Akure Shopping Mall.

Reviewing the novel, the Ondo State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dayo Adeyanju, said it will serve as a complementary effort to the strategies employed by AYFHP to actualise its objectives among adolescents and youths.

Taiwo and Kehinde, who are both SSS1 students of Federal Government College, Idoani, told The Guardian that they were motivated to make a difference, by creating opportunities for others to learn from them.

The twin authors averred that the 107-page novel would help inculcate values in the youths, apart from properly informing them on sex.

According to Adeyanju, the ministry purposely created the soap opera, which he said is a13-week episode meant to engage the youths throughout their vacation, so that, they can gainfully use the holidays for self-development and rediscovery.

He hinged the twin occasion on the visions of Mother and Child initiative that does not only ensure ‘pregnancy is not a death sentence, but also to monitor the children after birth’ and to dissuade parents from neglecting their wards.

Urging parents to devout more attention to their children and wards, Adeyanju, said, “Children who have no parental attention go from subtle to mild and wild. We build the best houses, drive the best cars, but we don’t build our children.”