PORT HARCOURT – The Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria (MWAN) has advised parents to monitor the use of the social media by children to prevent them from being exposed to immorality.
The National President of MWAN, Dr Valerie Obot, gave the advice while speaking at the association’s 5th National Executive Council meeting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Obot, who spoke on the theme: ‘Effective Parenting of Children: The case of the Girl-Child“, said the failure of parents to monitor their female children’s access to and activities on the social media could lead to moral decadence among such children.
“If you look at Nigeria in particular today, you will see that there is a lot of decadence in the society.
“You will see that a lot of girls have turned to suicide bombers.
“If the home is the first source of livelihood for a child to grow, then we must begin to train them (children) in order for us to have a good society tomorrow.
“You are aware of all the challenges that the girl-child is passing through. So, our particular focus is a case for the girl-child because the girls are as good as the boys.
“If you have a girl, you should parent your girl well. Let her know that she can be a leader and achieve whatever she would like to achieve, then you will see our girls not dropping out of school, but reaching their heights.“
Obot said the association inaugurated a REACH-G programme recently with a focus on promoting empowerment, reproductive rights, education and access to adequate healthcare for the girl-child.
She said the association was working hard to help reduce by 25 per cent the country’s annual maternal, infant and child deaths, which the United Nations rated the highest in sub-Saharan frica.
The national president said, “Apart from looking at the girls, we are also educating women by building capacity for primary healthcare workers to know when to refer pregnant women to hospitals for expatriate management.
“We are also teaching women about reproductive health and giving them health information and services in order to stop the current high maternal mortality which results mainly from pregnancy.“
The association released an eight-point communiqué that urged parents to establish communication channels between them and their children.
The communiqué also advised parents to protect their children always and provide them with the relevant tools that would help, especially the girl-child, become effective leaders in future.
It condemned the assault on female medical doctors in the course of their duty.