By Timothy Nwobodo

Since the 27th day of May 1964, Nigeria earmarked 27th day of the month of May to celebrate her children annually, but 61 years down the line, the children of the country are yet to feel celebrated even on the said day.

From a young age, the average Nigerian child is constantly reminded that he/she is the leader of tomorrow but once gotten to the age of responsibility, is warned by not just parents but the society not to dream of, much less go near leadership, especially when it involves political power.

The child grows up to see the same people who are in power from when he was a toddler being recycled into the system with little or no effort to make policies or lead in such a way that the hopes and aspirations of these children are brought to life. They make sure that corruption eats deep into the system as the rich keeps getting richer, while the poor, poorer.

Any voice that dares to rise in opposition is silenced at all costs, dreams die and innovations killed before conception, the only ones who are allowed close to the Corridors of power are sycophants and young people who are not courageous enough to ask questions.

The way we treat our children leaves everything to be desired, yet we pretend to celebrate them annually. If we continue in this trajectory, there might not be a tomorrow which they will promise their own children.

As we celebrate and remember our children today, let us have a sober reflection on the kind of future we would like to bequeath them, a future where the son of a nobody can become somebody without knowing anybody, where innovation and creativity is celebrated over mediocrity, where child’s rights are considered inalienable.

Just like Khalil Gibran said in his book “The Prophet”: “Your children are not your children, they are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you, and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you,for life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday…..” We are in urgent need of system and mental rejuvenation.

Timothy Nwobodo is the Immediate Past Editor-in-Chief of ESUT Monitor Newspaper