Chief Alaba Lawson, Chairman of the Governing Council, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Ogun State, on Monday urged parents to give equal education opportunities to the boy and girl-children.
Lawson made the call at the launch of books written by six children to commemorate World Children’s Day.
The event was organised in Lagoe by the Jordan Hill, a creative writing and reading organisation.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the books launched include: ‘Mobola and the Spider’ written by Oluwakanyinsola Afolayan; ‘Smiling Days and Dancing Nights’, by Akwugo Chinedu Balogun; ‘the First Female Ruler of L’Eko’, by Oluwatofunmi Lawal.
The others are ‘Vehemence’ written by Nola Metseagharun; ‘Dreamworld’, a collection of short stories, by Young writters, and ‘The Fight for Amanita’, by Olurotimi Balogun.
Lawson said that parents should correct the impression that concentration should be given to only the girl-child in education.
“I love children and I want to correct an impression; whether we like it or not, we gave birth to boys and girls.
“Let’s us raise them up equally.
“If we are talking about girl-child all the time, by the time we raise the standard of girl-child and the boy-child is neglected, we will have to start again working on the boy-child to be on the same level.
“Let us work together to bring the two of them up on the same level.
“That will give us that sense of duty as parents that we have done our best to bring the children – both boys and girls – up equally,” she said.
Lawson also urged parents to stop complaining about the sex of their children, adding, ‘God gives children, not man’.
“We are not God who will give some girls and we are not God who will give some boys; I have boys – six boys, no girl.
“We have to build all of them, we are the ones that gave birth to them all and we shall witness joy over them,” she said.
Lawson was at the book launch to honour her granddaughter, Tofunmi Lawal, one of the six young writers, whose books were launched by Jordan Hill.
She urged parents to give their children opportunities to get closer to them.
“I want to thank parents who have trained these young ones up to this stage; it is not easy, I have passed through it and I know what it means, especially at this stage of their lives
“Education is the right legacy, and if you think it is too expensive, try ignorance.
”We are putting them on the right part for the development of their future,” she said.
Mrs Adedoyin Adesina, Chief Executive Officer, Corona Schools’ Trust Council, urged children to nurture their exceptional skills.
Adedoyin, who was the Chairman of the occasion, said it was amazing that the children had already become authors.
She encouraged them to keep up their love for writing, saying that writers played crucial roles in any society.
”Writers pass knowledge through books, to keep records of significant historical incidents for the coming generation.
“I congratulate our young authors whose books are being launched today, they have taken their first steps on the path of great men such as Shakespeare, Chinua Achebe and Prof. Wole Soyinka.
“Developing exceptional writing skills and being able to create content good enough to be published is a great feat.
“I commend the efforts of our young authors and applaud them on the publication of their books.
“This is a skill that is much desired by a lot of people; you have that skill and you have started well, so keep it up,” she said.
She commended the organisers of the programme for their vision and commitment to developing young authors.
Earlier, Mrs Adeola Eze, Co-founder, Jordan Hill Company, said that the book launch was to celebrate children’s ingenuity, creativity and achievements.
Eze said that 10 young writers had been inspired and motivated to write and complete their own books recently.
She added that a group of young writers had also been encouraged to contribute to a collection of short stories.
”We do not take this lightly as we are focused on and committed to changing the narrative in the Nigerian literary scene, to grow a new generation with enriched writing competence.
“As our theme indicates, there is truly a book in everyone.
”Reading through all the books written by these young ones, we marvel at the ingenuity and creativity expressed in all of their stories.
“There is really no way a story must go; there is really no way a story must end.
What we believe to be most important is the message behind the story.
“This is one thing our young authors have all shown through the use of the pen – sharing a message with the world through their books.”
She said that the authors were able to depict, through their works, the true picture of what the world is – a place where evil permeates with a constant fight between good and evil.
One of the writers, Miss Nola Metseagharun, a 10-year-old pupil of Corona School, Lekki, Lagos, told NAN that she was excited.
She urged children to follow their dreams and take the bold steps to achieve their goals.
“I want children to believe in themselves and whatever they set their minds on.
“What motivated me is that some children do not believe in themselves, so I wrote a story that should help them to believe in themselves,” she said.
Nola’s father, Mr Okpemi Metseagharun, told NAN that writing helped children to discover and develop their God-given talents.
Metseagharun said her daughter started writing when she was five years, adding that the family had continued to encourage her.
“We are very happy and proud of her feat.
“We saw that her insight to writing was quite different; she likes to get her story down from within, and we realised that it is something we must encourage.
“She has written lots of stories but this is the first to be published; hopefully, we will get all her other stories published,” he said.
