THE Child Protection Network (CPN), Oyo State last week celebrated the 2023 Day of the African Child, and to bring out the challenges facing the African child, it showed the documentary, Soweto Uprising, which exposes how South African students began protesting peacefully for qualitative education on June 16, 1976, and how a shot fired by the police changed everything.
Antoinette Sithole, also a student, had just finished speaking with her brother, Hector Pieterson (12), when a gunshot was heard, and before she knew it, her brother had been hit and was bleeding.
One of the protesters, Mbuyisa Makhubo, carried Pieterson towards a waiting car for onward transport to the hospital, but just before they entered the car, Hector gave up the ghost.
That experience affected Makhubo’s mental health as he fell into depression, and on a particular day, he just walked away, never to be seen again.
CPN, therefore, employed this documentary to highlight the challenges South African children faced during apartheid, which led to the Soweto Uprising, and how it compares with the present reality on the continent.
While speaking, the coordinator of CPN, Oyo State, Mrs Oluwatoyin Ogedengbe, said the organisation decided to showcase the challenges facing South African children during apartheid in 1976 and how it led to the Soweto Uprising, while comparing it to the current realities.
“What led to the Soweto Uprising was that the children were fighting for qualitative education, but in today’s world, there are many challenges facing children like sexual abuse and defilement, child trafficking, child labour, among others and it is the responsibility of CPN to ensure that children are protected.
“Children have rights and at CPN, we are always working to protect those rights. We do these in a number of ways, which include sensitisation programmes for parents and also for the children.
“In fact, what we are also doing with the celebration of the Day of the African Child is to create awareness about the challenges these children are facing and look for ways to protect them.
“The theme for this year’s celebration is, The Rights of the Child in the Digital Environment,’ and it particularly looks at the dangers inherent in technology for the children and how it is the responsibility of parents and guardians to monitor their children or wards by creating a boundary between the good side and bad side of technology,” Mrs Ogedengbe said.
Earlier, the Baale of Ekotedo, Chief Taiye Ayorinde, who chaired the occasion, admonished parents to always monitor their children, especially in this digital age.
Chief Ayorinde said: “Our children are our future and it is our responsibilities to ensure that they are well protected.
“I am happy with the theme of this year’s celebration because technology, as good as it is, is also influencing our children negatively and I want to commend the Child Protection Network (CPN) for focusing on this aspect of our national life.”
Also at the event, which was held at the House of Chiefs, Secretariat, Ibadan were officials of the Oyo State Ministry of Education, the police, the Nigeria Immigration Service, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), National Orientation Agency (NOA), and they all highlighted the challenges they are facing as regards to children, just as they also proffered solutions for such challenges.
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