Boy Child’s Day: Stakeholders champion boys’ health, wellbeing

Lament number of out-of-school children in N’West

In the spirit of International Day of the Boy Child, stakeholders have called for more attention to boys’ health and wellness.They also lamented the high rate of out-of-school children in the North West geo-political zone

Founder of the Great Archivers Initiative for Youth and Community Development (GAIYD), Hillary Akpua, said more attention had often been paid to the girls while neglecting the boys, who also need protection and mentoring.

At an event, yesterday, in Abuja marking the 2024 International Day of the Boy Child with the theme, ‘Boy’s Health and Wellbeing’, Akpua stressed the need to give equal attention to the male child by parents and caregivers to positively impact their contribution in the society.

“Often, the male child is forgotten in society; that is why we said there should be a voice that speaks for these under-represented people.

“Everything starts from the family; if the family is corrected, I know our society will be better. There is no way the family will be better if you do not have a good male child. Many pay more attention to the female child while their male counterpart suffers neglect,” he lamented.

According to him, it is saddening that only two organisations are focusing on the male child, GAIYD and another in Lagos.  On the need to care for boys to avoid drug abuse, Deputy Commander Narcotic and Assistant Director, Media and Advocacy, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Chidi Ndukwe, said one in seven persons aged 15 to 64 had used a drug (other than tobacco and alcohol) as shown in the Nigeria National Drug Use Survey 2018.

“According to global crime statistics, men consistently dominate crime perpetration across various categories, including violent crimes, property crimes and white-collar offences.

“That is why this kind of programme that addresses issues bordering on the boychild is very important. We should, therefore, make deliberate efforts to douse the male-inherent nature of radicalism, extremism, etc to ensure a better society,” he urged.

MEANWHILE, stakeholders from Katsina, Kano, Kaduna and Jigawa states at a two-day meeting in Katsina, said of the 18.8 million out-of-school children in the country, more than 50 per cent is in found in the North West.

The event was a regional stakeholders’ meeting on out-of-school children and retention, transition and completion models for the four states, organised by the Katsina State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

UNICEF Education Specialist, MuntakaMuktar, said while Nigeria leads globally in the number of out-of-school children, the country hosts 15 per cent in Africa.

Muktar said eight states in the country led in the number of children not schooling, with Kano, Katsina and Jigawa having the highest number of out-of-school children in the country.