REBUILDING OUR WALLS:
A COMMUNIQUE issued at the International Women’s Day Celebration organised by Children of Rural Africa (CORAfrica) in partnership with the CATHOLIC WOMEN ORGANISATION in OGOJA Deanery on this day March 8th 2022.
Arising from a one day seminar as part of activities to mark the 2022 International Womens Day held here in Thomas McGettrick Institute of Technology, Ogoja (old TTC); after a critical review of recent occurrences in our land, we the members of Children of Rural Africa Organization-Nigeria, in collaboration with the CATHOLIC WOMEN ORGANISATION in Ogoja Deanery wish to make the following resolutions:
1. We commend the United Nations for the adoption of March 8 as International Women’s Day to promote women’s rights and honor their achievements across the political, economic, social and cultural spheres.
We commend all agencies and organizations, and individuals that are working tirelessly to promote advocacy of the emancipation of women and we acknowledge and take responsibility for most of our children’s moral decadence and pledge to leave up to our expectations by fostering parental care and discipline on our children.
2. However, we are highly bothered by the constant influx of the youth from rural villages into the suburban areas in the name of urbanization and we demand that the situation be critically reviewed by our governments, churches and civil societies groups as this trend is now endangering the lives of our youth especially girls.
3. We condemn in entirety the unprecedented ritual killings of our young girls in Ogoja, the female trafficking of the girl child to far away destinations where they are often used as child labourers and sex workers as this has become rampart especially within locations in Ogoja, culminating in Mbok junction.
4. Security agencies in Ogoja should rise to the challenge of providing security and fish out perpetrators of evils in Ogoja and ensure justice is served adequately. the Police, the army and other law enforcement agencies should reinforce their duties of ensuring security in strategic places to prevent kidnappers, armed robbers and ritualists. Traditional Leaders should enact bye-laws that will restrict children from getting trapped in these illicit acts.
5. More efforts should be made to improve the task of vigilante groups especially in rural communities to preserve the lives of all society members especially the weaker members such as women, girls and children. Activities of Motorcycle riders also known as “Okada” should be critically monitored by day and night as most of them have become accomplices in the vice of kidnapping young girls to unknown destinations for ritual killings.
6. We call on government to revive our educational sector, renovate dilapidated school buildings that have become eye sores, employ teachers and equip libraries and laboratories as well as review curricula to accommodate more of psychomotor advancement. Our institutions of learning have become highly inconducive for learning.
7. Since most of our children spend their day at school, all hands should be on deck to improve the school curriculum, giving priority to social learning for skills acquisition and economic empowerment opportunities for young people. The Government, Churches and civil society groups should seek to establish and improve vocational centres that provide skills for both youth and women. They should also provide soft loans and if possible grants for graduates.
8. Parents should inculcate in their children the moral value of contentment as most of those who indulge in promiscuity want to leave above their means through sometimes the greed of their mothers.
9. Women should rise and participate actively in politics, to break the biases. More Seminars such as this should be organized at local levels regularly to create the needed awareness among women.
10. We call on all men to join the advocacy to end all forms of violence against women and girls and be ready to support women to realize their full potentials.
Dated this 8th day of March 2022
Signed
Attem Udejor Udey
National Programmes Coordinator
CORAfrica-Nigeria
Grace Modey
President, CWO
Ogoja Deanery
