By ABEL JOHNGOLD ORHERUATA
Ahead of commemoration of the International Day of the Boy Child and World Menstrual Hygiene Day celebrated every May 16 and May 28, the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Delta State Directorate, have advocated for equal attention, cares, support and empowerment for the Boy and Girl Child.
The State NOA Director, Mr Uche Chris Anyabuine, advocated this in Asaba yesterday when he received on courtesy call the representatives of Mega Impact Foundation (MIF).
According to Anyabuine “most of the vices society suffer today are committed by the boy child. So when we end up supporting and empowering only the girl child and leaving the boy child that society will eventually not be well with it. Society will suffer for it because the boy child will end up marrying the girl child that you have so well nutured.
“So the boy child need to be well equipped with programmes targeted at them at infancy or early parts of their lives so that they can turnout to become the children we dream of”.
Anyabuine assured the MIF team led by Florence Ogonegbu, Executive Director of MIF and Oluwaseun Ola-Daniels, Project Consultant of MIF, of the Agency’s readiness to synergize with MIF in their forthcoming program to sensitize and empower the boy child with new ideas, new skills for survival in a new watch and also to help re-orientate them from crime free ways of living.
Adding that “NOA mandate is wide. We reach out to all categories of Nigerians trying to positively change attitudes, values and mis-normal. All geared towards achieving social economy development of our country. That’s the mandate of NOA.
The Delta State NOA Director who noted that the MIF proposed program was a novelty one to his Agency, said much attention have been focused spectacularly on the girl child so there was need to equally equipped the boy child.
Earlier, the MIF Project Consultant, Oluwaseun Ola-Daniels stated that “Mega Impact Foundation (MIF) is a non-profit and non-governmental organization with special focus on bringing social development to women and children in Nigeria through leveraging technology to simplify access to Entrepreneurial development and mentorship”.
Ola-Daniels added that “In commemoration of the International Day of the Boy Child and World Menstrual Hygiene Day celebrated every May 16 and May 28 respectively, we are seeking your partnership to host the following highlighted programmes. World Menstrual Hygiene Day: Our event tagged “PADDED” is a 2 hours experiential sensitization and training workshop for female senior prefects and teachers selected from Secondary Schools in Asaba.
Highlights of the event include: To inform and train these young girls on living a healthy reproductive lifestyle; an Oratory Competition, Child Rights Analysis and Breakdown by the Delta State Office of the Child Rights Implementor .
“The primary objective is to sensitize and train participants to be able to carry out step down peer-training sessions with their fellow students while we provide such events with our in-house facilitators and mentors.
“International Day of the Boy Child: “Boys Power Symposium” is a 2hours symposium where male students from Secondary Schools would be engaged in training and grooming sessions by professionals on topics such as Understanding themselves as boys “Roles and Challenges” , Hygiene and Reproductive Health for boys by a medical practitioner , Entrepreneurship development “Boys in Tech” by a seasoned Techpreneur, life skills training, highlight of event would also include an Oratory Competition and intelligent quotient engaging games as well as practical workshops.
“Our project’s primary objective is to celebrate these boys whilst highlighting and proffering solutions to challenges faced by boys in the 21stcentury.These challenges include: human trafficking, victims of violent crimes, pressure to be financially successful by all means, alcohol and drug abuse, Sexuality education and STD’s and etc
“As the leading agency at the fore front of raising awareness, positively changing attitudes, values and behaviors; accurately and adequately informing; and sufficiently mobilizing citizens to act in ways that promote peace, harmony we are seeking your partnership in the following areas”.