Children's Day; Ensuring a better nation through development of our children.

In Nigeria,Chilren's day is usually celebrated today 27th May annually.This started in the year 1979 which was the International year of the child as proclaimed by the United Nations.Although we know that the International Children's Day originated in Turkey(April 23,1920)and later in the World Conference for the Well-being of Children in Geneva,Switzerland in 1925.It is usually celebrated on June 1 in Turkey and many communist countries,but many countries have their own different days of celebration.

About 19 years ago,I was in the hospital on this day when my colleagues were on the field marching and engaged in inter-school 100m dash and relay competitions.It was in commomeration of the annual Children's day as we call the International Day of the Child locally.Of course,we always look forward to this day with excitement as it affords us an holiday and funfare of the celebration at the Township stadium(in which each school strive to outperform the other).We seem to believe in those days that all there is to the Children's day was the March past and the athletic competition!

Today I am an adult.I don't have an holiday today as I used to in those days.However,the concern that I have these days whenever today comes annually is not in any way a reflection of celebration.It seems to me that the world is getting worse and with increasing hostilities and disregard for the welfare and dignity of children.

First and foremost,there is the menace of child trafficking that has become so rampant in our society to the point that it no longer evoke the right emotion of disgust and concern that it should.It is fast becoming a normal phenomenom in our national psyche.It has come to a point that parents more or less beg the perpetrators of these act to take their own children.This of course is a reflection of the spate of poverty in the land.One cannot imagine the effect of this vice on the overall mental psychic of the child.What with the issue of parental separation and deprivation with all the attendant effects.It is modern day slavery!

Closely related to child trafficking is the issue of child labour and prostitution.Of course,the main purpose of trafficking is to provide cheap labour and services.Many of these children are used as sex slaves in foreign lands which have damaging effect of their self esteem,social relations and mental health.There is an alarming increase in the number of children street trading which exposes them to the risk of accidents, rape, illicit drugs and their attendant sequele.
There is an increase in the number of orphans and vulnerable children in our society.What with the issue of HIV/AIDS that have created a lot of orphans in its wake.The security situation is also getting worse; we now hear of children who are kidnapped for ritual purposes and also for ramsome as it is becoming common in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria.

With all the above,what kind of adults and future leaders do we intend to make out of our children in this generation and the next? What kind of followership do our leaders also expect ot get?It is high time that we demanded better living conditions and conducive environment for our children.Many of the vices that I have talked about above result directly and indirectly from poverty in the land.We should stop paying lip service to development but take the bull by the horn and muster the political will to improve our economy.

There have been many lofty and ambitious policies in the past which have not met the purpose for which they were conceived because there is no political will and politicians just believe in business as usual.

I believe in a better Nigeria.I believe that we are going to have emotionally stable children who are going to turn into self confident adult that will take this country out of the woods.I believe in Nigerian Children.

HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY!

A vacation too eventful and simply too long.

About six weeks ago,I was so stressed up both physically but more of emotionally, that I had to take my annual leave.But as it is now,I will give anything to make sure that I resume work,but that is not something that I have control over right now.

I had applied for four weeks out of the possible six weeks annual leave,for which I proceeded on the 7th,April 2007.Before then,I was so stressed up emotionally that I could not do anything meaningful in terms of academics.In fact,it was as if reading and studying was anathema to me.By that I do not mean just academic books but also magazines,newspapers,motivational books etc.I guess it was not unconnected with the so called CONTISS salary structure and the inability of the management of my hospital to impliment it despite the fact that all other Federal Tertiary institutions have implimented same.I found it rather disturbing that in a civilized society,things like these could go on without being able to do anything abou it despite going as far as the National Assemble!Talk of losing faith in the system.Morever,I had moved from the Psychiatric Hospital Uselu after spending about 10 months without taking the annual leave for the year 2007.I was fargued out as it were.

Using the Holmes and Rahi life event scale,I had accumulated some good amount of points to qualify for a break down.I needed to just rest and take a break.

However,the leave period turned out to be rather very eventful.First,I got a call from an unexpected caller asking me to speak on Stress Management and HIV in the work place.This was at a workshop organized by a Management consulting outfit in conjunction with Nigeria Medical Association(N.M.A).It was an exciting time for me in the sense that I had the opportunity to talk on the relationship between stress and health and dwelt on the role of stress in mental illness most especially.

Moreover,I was able to give my wife a three-day holiday in Calabar while I was there for a speaking engagement!It was such a wonderful coincidence that I was invited to speak in Calabar when I had earlier promised to take her there on a visit.Of course,I gave her a treat and somebody else paid for the transportation and accommodation.

Have I mentioned that I was also in Benin to tie up issues on that end?Ranging from unpaid arrears at Psychiatric hospital Uselu(Though that have not been paid!),to accommodation issues,and other minor issues.

Just as I got back to Jos and rearing to go at full steam,I was plagued by that terrible accident that I mentioned in the last post.As a consequence of that accident,I presently have my right ankle in cast and as such I cannot resume back to work as I thought.Although I later found out that I was granted the full six weeks annual leave as against the four weeks that I applied for,yet even that have elapsed and I still cannot get back to work because of the sprain in the ankle.As it were,I am not even sure if the calceneous is not fractured as I have this pain whenever I step on it.At any rate I will have repeat x-ray before removing the cast next Wednesday.I sincerely hope that the repeat x-ray does not show a fracture as I cannot bear to continue to stay at home for so long a time because I am really fed up with being redundant!

Well I guess that I can say that this my leave is one that have been too eventful and extended.It is one leave too long.i am pray that it will end lest it becomes a source of stress to me too.

A Great Deliverance!

By a great deliverance was my wife and I delivered from death when we hit a concrete structure for electric poles in the middle of the road and the car somersaulted.

We were coming from communion service that fateful Sunday night 10 days ago.It has just stopped raining and the driving was made worse by the full headlights of vehicles from the opposite side of the road.Moreover the road is such that at certain points,the central divide enlarges into the road such that you have to bend awy from your straight drive to avoid crashing into the concrete structures made for street lights that are not there.As we were coming home that fateful day,I couldn't see this point on time and drove straight on and crashed into the concrete structure and the car did some somersault.

Thank God that we were both wearing seat belts,we would probably have been six feet below the ground by now.People were there to help and we were lucky to have known faces who took good care of us and took us to the hospital.I sustained a sprain in my right ankle that is in a cast and my wife sustained some bruises on the right arm.

The pictures tell the story!