Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, the Minister of Women Affairs, has urged Nigerians to give birth to children they can cater for so as not to subject them to hardship.
The Minister who made the appeal at a function in Abuja also urged people to stop maltreating their house helps.
She said:
“In this country, we know that having a house help is not a problem, but it’s maltreating them that is a problem. So that is the more reason why we should enlighten Nigerians that if you have a neighbor maltreating a child, report the case and, believe me, if you don’t see me there you will see somebody from this ministry or many of our state ministers.
Neighbors and the teachers are the ones we should enlighten, including the media so that when a child is being maltreated and looking down, from the expression you would know, teachers should take note, ask the child questions, and report back. So, we need a lot of enlightenment and sensitization on this issue.
I am urging parents don’t have children you cannot train, this is part of why the children are suffering. It’s very unfair and very bad, that you will have children you cannot train and then you subject them to so many sufferings, even some of them when they give out their children to help others. They don’t even look out to know whether that child is okay or not. I know some that are even alive and they adopted their kids to other people simply because they are lazy.
They can’t work so I’m telling them to up their games, work hard, even if you’re roasting corn, there is joy in it and you can make money just cut your coat according to your size and take care of your children don’t go and have twelve, using them as bait that one day one of them will grow up to start taking care of you. Some of them could equally die in the process of suffering. So I plead with them to have as many children as you can train.” the Minister said.
