IN a quest to understand the place of the boy-child in Nigerian contemporary society, some stakeholders in the gender and education space, under the aegis of the Centre for Applied Ethics and Political Communication in Africa (CAEPOCOM Africa), recently gathered in Ibadan for the Ibadan Boys’ Summit 2022, with the theme ‘The bodacious boy’.
The summit provided the much-awaited opportunity for boys aged 10 – 18 across the city to discuss conflict of values in the society, and learn to cultivate productive habits such as respect, love, integrity, excellence, team-work, contentment, all focused at raising value-driven boys who the society can refer to as ‘bodacious’.
According to the programme coordinator of CAEPOCOM Africa, Aisha Momoh, the annual summit is a project under the Reclaiming Masculinity for Sustainable Coexistence (REMASCO) programme of the Centre.
She noted that CAEPOCOM Africa has observed how too much attention has been paid to girls and women in the last three decades, while boys were left to figure themselves out.
She lamented that, in recent past, boys have been deprived the chance to be children, as the society wants them to be men regardless of age, emotions, or general well-being.
“The situation has gotten so terrible that failing to live up to the standards is now regarded as incompetence, which sometimes results in crime, violence and suicide,” Momoh said. “So, to this end, raising good boys is everyone’s business.”
The chairman of the occasion and a former Commissioner for Education in Oyo State, Mr Morohunkola Thomas, lamented the stress, the pressure, and undue responsibilities on the boy-child these days, which have led many of them to drop out of school, to join bad company, to go into crime, or to seek illegal ways of making money.
He also decried how too much responsibilities and expectations from the boys and too much pampering and protection of the girls have resulted in girls being more audacious, brilliant, and even productive than boys.
“They boys are meant to bear the grudges. It is a cultural thing. It does not only happen in Nigeria, but all over the world,” Thomas said.
On the other hand, he added. “I am fascinated by this summit, because it signals a change in our cultural orientation, especially with regard to the boy-child, as the psychology of the boy-child has to be looked into.”
Dr Sharon Omotoso, a director at the Center and senior lecturer at the University of Ibadan, noted that the summit was apt. Sharing her experience as the Coordinator of Women’s Research and Documentation Center (WORDOC), Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Omotoso recounts how many women and girl-child related programmes have ended with pleas from stakeholders to also address matters from the angles of boys and men.
She reiterated the need for a shift from only seeking wife material in girls, and expressed that “boys must also begin to consider how to fit as son material, husband material and father material.”
Prince Olayemi Silva, chairman of Grenville Empowerment Network Africa (GENA), spoke on ‘Money matters’. “You need to know what money can do for you,” Silva said. “And learning how to save will help you now and in the future.”
He urged the boys not to restrict their thinking to illegal ways of making money, but to embrace virtues of patience, hard work and resilience in climbing to the top.
Dr Fortune Afatakpa, Acting Registrar of Dominion University, Ibadan, called attention to how the society raises good girls only for them to end up in the hands of bad boys. He emphasised that it is easy to build a boy than to repair a man, adding that habits can either make one a boy of mediocre or of excellence.
Mr Yemi Sonde, the group managing director of Yes FM Ibadan, lauded the initiative of Ibadan Boys’ Summit, stating that such an opportunity was scarce while growing up. “We at YES FM take it as the much-awaited attention to be paid to mentoring boys, and we are proud to be associated with the initiative.
In the same vein, Mr Victor Ehindero of the POTTV Media encouraged participants to make the best of the summit as they are privileged to be selected as delegates.
At the event, some of the placards on display read: “I’m no ogre, I’m an oga”, “Boys are also endangered”, “I’m tired of getting tired”, “Help us help our boys”, “#Nigeria: The boy-child is a dream… Don’t kill it”, among other.
Dr Olusola Ayoola, founder of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Nigeria (RAIN), while facilitating the session on ‘Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology’, said, “Great men create better societies and better societies create tough men.”
Other highlights at the event include a session by Chrysolite Foundation on opportunities for boys in the diaspora; a leadership session by Dr Kachi Ekwerike of the University of Georgia, USA; and textual analysis session by Kvng Savage.
Participants were exposed to team playing activities, personality tests; basics on gender, goal orientation, time management, resource control, personal development, among others.
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