With increasing concern over the consumption of illicit drugs, and the rise in crime rates, KEHINDE OYETIMI, in this report, explores the challenges associated with parenting in the 21st century, considering the avalanche of provisions made available by social media, and targeted at the youth population.
He was reported to have been shocked when operatives of the Nigeria Police Force demanded the arrest of his daughter. ‘It could not have been his daughter,’ he must have reasoned. Perhaps this was a case of mistaken identity. Chidinma’s father was absolute that he knew his daughter; he knew her whereabouts; he understood her proclivities. But men of the Nigeria Police Force insisted that the address was right and the suspect they had come to pick was none else but Chidinma Ojukwu.
Mr. Ojukwu was taken in for obstructing his daughter’s arrest. His daughter was arrested for her alleged involvement in the killing of Super TV boss, UsifoAtaga.A top police source reportedly stated that the suspect and her father were arrested at their residence, No. 57 Akinwunmi Street, Alagomeji, Yaba, on June 23.
The source said the father was arrested for resisting Chidinma’s arrest and for becoming violent with policemen, who went to apprehend her. He added that the man did not believe that his daughter committed any crime until she confessed on Thursday at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Panti, Yaba.“She (Chidinma) stays with her dad. Her dad and mom don’t live together. Her father was arrested on Wednesday, because he resisted his daughter’s arrest. He never believed that his daughter committed any crime until Thursday,” the source stated.
Both traditional and new media went into frenzy when the benumbing story of Ataga’s murder broke. Many found the confessional statements and the person of the suspect alleged to have committed the murder unusual. Chidinma’s frame, the innocence that her looks radiated, and her age were clearly opposed to the horror her lips uttered: “On a Sunday, June 13, he asked that I get a place where we can stay. I checked online and sent to him, he asked me to go check it out which I did and paid.
“On Monday, June 14, we were together drinking, smoking and I also went to get food. On Tuesday, June 15, he was making advances at me and I resisted, so he became violent and later had his way. In the afternoon, he ordered for smoke, ate and we became high because I also smoked with him even though I was still angry about the first one he did.
“So, I was on my own, watching a movie on the couch. He came at me again and I said no because I wasn’t happy with him. I told him that he doesn’t help me but only plays me around, he kept trying to make advances and I was resisting so I had to defend myself.
“At some point, he hit my head on the wall and was choking me. I tried escaping but the door was locked so he pulled me back. I grabbed a knife from the kitchen and stabbed him twice in the neck and threw the knife on the bed. He then tried reaching for the knife so I picked it again and stabbed him the third time,” she said.
The gory details of the episode and the sheer courage of Chidinma who was said to have returned home after the incident have left many wondering about the many-sided burden of parenting the current generations of what sociologists have termed millennials (Generation Y) and Generation Z.
Of Millennials, Gen Z
Millennials are today’s youths who were born between 1981 and 1994/6. They are currently between 25 and 40 years old. They are also known as Generation Y or Gen Y. Closely following this is Generation Z.Generation Z (or Gen Z for short), colloquially also known as zoomers. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1990s as starting birth years and the early 2010s as ending birth years. Most members of Generation Z are children of Generation X.
For a generation that has been exposed to the internet from a young age, it is not unexpected that members of Generation Z will bear more in terms of the consequences of relatively unlimited screen time.
Nicholas Buckley, psychiatrist at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, states that in many countries, the Gen Z youth is more likely to have intellectual disabilities and psychiatric disorders than older generations.
Around the world, members of Generation Z are spending more time on electronic devices and less time reading books than before, with implications for their attention span, their vocabulary and thus their school grades, as well as their future in the modern economy, SunjayKansagra of the American Academy of Pediatrics, argues.
Rising violence, substance abuse
Chidinma, though a 21-year-old and therefore demographically a member of Generation Z having been born in 2000, stated in her confession that she had been exposed to substance abuse about three years before she allegedly committed the crime. Pained by the booming illicit drug market and its accessibility, President Muhammadu Buhari had recently described the danger posed by illicit drugs as deadlier than insurgency, banditry and other threats bedeviling the country. He called on the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to step up the fight against drugs use by destroying production sites and laboratories, breaking supply chain, discouraging usage while also prosecuting offenders and traffickers.
He spoke at the State House last week during the launch of the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA), an initiative of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). The event was held in commemoration of the United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking, with the theme, ‘Share Facts on Drugs. Save Lives.’
President Buhari made this statement barely weeks after operatives of the NDLEA launched raids on online drug traffickers and couriers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).The operations led to the arrest of a young lady, her boyfriend and eight others and the recovery of assorted prohibited drugs.
Director of Media and Advocacy of the agency, Femi Babafemi, in a statement, said the first suspect, 28-year-old Ese Patrick, who allegedly sells her illicit substances through Instagram account, Ese’sOvenSecret, was tracked and arrested with some pieces of brownies ordered online by NDLEA’s undercover agents on May 21, 2021, and delivered by herself and her boyfriend in a Mercedes Benz car.
“A follow-up operation at her residence led to the seizure of 400 grammes of Arizona weed, which she uses in baking the brownies.Further investigation led to the arrest of one Iyama Patrick, with 450 grammes of Arizona weed. He supplies the cannabis she uses,” the NDLEA spokesman said.
Babafemi explained that a day earlier, a motorcycle belonging to a courier company, Sky Port, was abandoned by a dispatch rider in Wuse Zone 4 upon sighting NDLEA’s outpost in the area.
The motorcycle, he said, was later found to contain several pinches of crack cocaine, called ‘Challie’, and some envelopes of Arizona weeds meant for delivery.
Another online drug trafficking suspect, Peter Nkejika, was arrested on Monday, May 24, 2021 following an arrest of a dispatch rider with some quantity of loud, a highly psychoactive variant of cannabis. Each portion of loud is said to cost N30,000, and the rider was caught with 17 portions for delivery.
We are worried—Parents
With the rising cases of violent crimes by young adults, substance abuse and other criminalities, parents appear to be at their wits’ end.
Speaking with Nigerian Tribune, 50-year-old Mr. Lawrence Eze said he was disturbed when he watched Chidinma narrate how she killed her victim. “I honestly did not know when I started crying. I have two daughters; they are in the higher institution. As we speak I call them often to ask after their wellbeing. But what else can I do? Now I am even scared. As parents, we pursue what these children will eat, how they will be clothed. What else? When they come home, they look very gentle. How will you know if your children are on drugs or prostituting, or even members of a cult? I am worried. I called them and started pleading with them to be contented with the little their mother and I can provide for them.”
For Mrs. Modupe Gbadegesin, “I have a son who just gained entry to study in one of the polytechnics. Ihave been worried since the Chidinma story broke out. In fact, I had to call him to kindly desist from use of drugs and cult activities. Every morning, my husband and I go out to look for means to feed, clothe and protect these children. What else can we do but pray that God be kind enough not to make these children be our undoing? I am worried.”
Many youths coming down with mental illness—Psychiatrist
Dr. Johnson Eniomehin, psychiatrist, Benue State University, cautioned parents to pay close attention to their wards, especially considering the growing craze for substance abuse and acquisition of wealth.
“The number of young people coming down with mental illness as a result of substance abuse is on the rise. Parenting in this age is very tasking. Peer pressure, particularly from social media, is a major distraction. Our young people are consuming all kinds of substances that are making them ill. This is not good; it must be arrested,” he stated.
Economic factors making parenting difficult—Sociologist
Mina Priye, a research fellow at the Department of Sociology, Federal University Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, told Nigerian Tribune that parenting has becoming herculean no thanks to the dwindling economic fortunes of many parents.
“It is very sad. Our economy is shrinking by the day. How many parents can take proper care of their children? Many of these children find various avenues to take care of themselves and in doing so get involved in various criminal activities. Unfortunately also, many marriages have collapsed, leaving the children to fend for themselves. Even parents who can afford to take care of their children also have fear that the social media would have negative effects on the children. Parents are no longer the sole authorities in their children’s lives,” she said.
Drug abuse, craze for wealth fuelling crimes among youths—Security expert
An Abuja-based security expert, Mr. LekanAjibade, has identified illicit substance abuse and craze for wealth as responsible for the escalation of violent crimes among youths.
According to him, “Illicit drugs are everywhere. They are available at very cheap rates. Because of peer pressure and peer review, many of these youths get involved in what they should not do. These young ones are influenced by the falsehood on social media. They have role models who have very negative effects on their lives. A parent is usually unaware of who the child looks up to and that is why he/she is surprised when told that the child is a societal misfit after getting involved in certain crimes. Drug abuse and the craze for wealth will continue to fuel crimes among them. With access to all kinds of information, parenting is very challenging in this age.”
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