The occasion of the Installation of the 39th President of Rotary Club, District 9142 Awka, Rtn. Emmanuel Ojukwu, PHF, PhD, Saturday 20th August, 2022 at Geogold Hotels, Awka.
My Rotarian President,
District Governor,
District Governor Nominee,
Assistant Governor,
Past Assistant Governors,
Past Presidents,
PHFs,
Charter Members,
Major Donors,
Fellow Rotarians,
Rotaractors,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
Down the ages, people have dwelt on the presumption that the Most High stays somewhere in an ethereal realm distributing children. How simplistic an assumption! An assumption totally bereft of any empirical input. Can we not see the reality before us, that the Fabricator of this existence we live and dwell in, has enacted immutable mystical and physical principles guiding conception and procreation, and that once these laws are met, conception takes place, procreation happens? This is the reason conception takes place even in circumstances of incest; it takes place in people that are not ready for it, such as mad women and minors; it takes place in those that do not desire it, in those that deny any belief in the existence of the Most High, even in those that make use of newborns for evil and clandestine purposes as soon as they are birthed. This is the reason many women who have been written off as barren under a man conceive after a coitus with another man; the reason why men who have only been able to sow only female or male seeds in a particular woman sow the opposite in another woman. Yet, despite all these realities we are surrounded by obvious metaphysical interventions where it becomes clear that the Most High, as the Imperium, beyond the pretensions of whatever we think we know, has in some cases suspended His own laws to allow couples, already written off as barren conceive special children that have impacted this world in various ways.
These children, whether special or not are what we have decided to come together as a group to raise One deep, sonorous, assertive Voice for, standing it up as a banner of righteousness against the evident evil of Child Abuse starring us in the face today, an evil blazing like a wild harmattan fire through many homes, behind many curtains. This, with the acute realization that we were once children, and that many of us sitting here today have been abused in one way or the other as children, and up till today, even as adults, we are still scarred with chars of these abuses. This is an evil that calls for the attention of all men and women of goodwill.
During the Renaissance, at the beginning of the age of Enlightenment, following the 1648 Westphalia Treaty of formation of nations, the German Philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche had postulated the death of God, whereby he saw established superstitions being driven away by empirical scientific theories and applications. In his words stated in his cerebral work of 1882 titled ‘The Joyful Pursuit Of Knowledge” he wrote, “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it.” Were Friedrich Nietzsche to be alive today, I wonder what he would be saying about the mess our enlightenment had done to our morality, about the role of God we have played ever since then. It must be noted however, that the subterranean reason for Nietzsche’s outburst is the seeming helplessness of God in the face of threatening evil ruling the affairs of men, the same helplessness we are confronted with till today, indeed ever since this existence.
Nietzsche witnessed hitherto incurable diseases being cured by medical science; he witnessed the darkness giving way to the light of various inventions, something that God has not done, in his opinion; he witnessed powerful political legislations having a hold on the brutish nature of man; and knowing that man did all these, he had declared that God is dead, since for all these years, God did nothing in the face of such evils. But as usual with most people of his stock, he was smart by half, for indeed whatever man had invented, whether abstract or concrete had been put into existence by the original Maker of earth and its fullness. We are surrounded by many invisible realities; we only need to tap into them to bring them into physical existence. What we call pharmaceutical drugs have been there in the vegetation around us, the leaves, the barks and the roots, and also in minerals buried deep inside the bowels of thethe ground we walk upon. What we see as electricity has been there in the flash of lightening before us; what we see as intelligent and wise legislations had been imbedded in the innumerable neurons in our brains, a most complex labyrinth. Someone had incidented these realities into existence, and at the fullness of our development we make them become physical realities. Can we not see that the most we can do is pretend to be God, but that we can never be the same as He?
There is no vacuum anywhere. Everything is filled up. And so evil, such as Child Abuse must be dethroned by men, you and me, while the Ultimate Evil, is to be done away by He who brought it into active existence in the first place, of course for a beautiful purpose, for without darkness light cannot be known; without disdain love cannot be appreciated. If we continued to do nothing about this evil, allowing these children suffer in the hands of various debased men and women, then Soyinka’s words ring true in our ears that – “The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny.”
Do we have to understand the lyrics of a music, or the enchanting lines of a poem, its rhythms and rhymes, before we can feel it? Of course not at all, for music just like poetry needs to be felt, otherwise it is no music. Likewise we do not have to understand the mindset of abusers of children before we can come together to raise a formidable, thunderous Voice in defense of the abused girl or boy child. And so we in the Save and Secure the Child Initiative do not seek to understand the mindset of abusers. Perhaps only Karl Jung and Sigmund Freud can do that. We only seek to feel the pains of these children, which we have done by deciding to arise in their defense, with all the resources we can muster.
Just recently a 14 year old girl child named Princess was a victim of domestic child abuse by the woman she was loaned to, a deaconess in a church in Kaduna. Her case went viral on social media, and our Kaduna state Coordinator, Uche Nwobu took it up by locating the girl and eventually reuniting her with her people. A member of our NGO, a volunteer has taken up the welfare of the girl, currently paying her 20,000 naira every month for her school lessons and general upkeep, promising to see her up to her university education. Princess is at the moment staying with her uncle in Kaduna under our Kaduna state watch. Another volunteer among us has also taken up the care of 5 indigent children while they lived with their parents, and would be seeing to their education and well-being up to their graduation from the university.
We have our presence in 21 states of the federation including Abuja, and working towards reaching the remaining states. We have been duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission. Since a month ago we the Anambra State Chapter have been having our physical meetings at Upcountry Hotels, off Kwatta Flyover, Iyiagu Estate, Awka.
How do we operate?
This organization was started online in March 2020 by Comrade Kene Ikwunne. He shared his passion with some of us who decided to congregate and raise a formidable Voice against Child Abuse in Nigeria.
Our basic means of operation are based on our 3 R’s, which are:
- RECOGNIZE CHILD ABUSE This involves sensitizing the public in ways to recognizing Child Abuse cases or incidents, through workshops, T.V/Radio programs, mobilizing and equipping our members to look out for child abuse incidents.
- RESPONDING TO CHILD ABUSE This includes quick responses from our members or the public to incidents of Child Abuse cases.
- REPORTING CHILD ABUSE CASES This is making sure that all Child Abuse cases to our knowledge is reported to the appropriate authorities with jurisdictional follow-up towards ensuring that justice prevails, and making sure that the child is adequately protected.
What are the responsibilities of our members, all of us as volunteers?
We have different cadres of membership as follows: - MOBILIZING NEW MEMBER:
This is a job for every member of SASCI, both in your communities and social media platforms. - COUNSELOR:
Your job is to counsel a child that is going through trauma of abuse and also counseling of parents or caregivers. - WORKSHOP TEACHERS:
Your job is to organize workshop for schools and other public gatherings such as markets. - FUND RAISERS:
Getting approval and modalities for raising funds for the Initiative. - PERSONAL DONORS:
You can choose to be a donor, which can be any amount; it does not matter the amount. And it can be daily, monthly, annually or at your convenience. - CORPORATE DONORS:
This is for corporate bodies, companies, government and businesses, donating to the Initiative. - LEGAL SERVICES:
This is for Legal Practitioners – Lawyers and Judicial workers, Police prosecutors, rendering legal services to victims. - HEALTH SERVICES:
This is for Medical Practitioners – Medial Doctors, Pharmacists, Medical Lab Scientists, Epidemiologists, Parasitologists, etc, rendering medical services to victims. - ADVISORY TEAM:
This comprises of Elder statesmen, Judges, Professors, high profile individuals with well proven integrity in the society, whose advices would be priceless. - THE CHAPLAINCY:
This consists of the men of the clergy for Christian activities and Imams for Muslims activities.
Millions, nay, billions of children all over the world are suffering from Child Abuse and they all need someone to speak up on their behalf. Worldwide, in 2014, a billion children aged between 2-17 experienced physical, sexual, emotional, domestic and multiple levels of violence. A quarter of adults have been abused as children. Some of us here today were once victims. This is something that leaves a lifelong trauma, impacting negatively on the health and total well-being of victims, families, communities and nations. The case of Adolph Hitler who was abused as a child readily comes to mind.
UNICEF in 2015 reported that one in four girls and one in ten boys in Nigeria had experienced sexual violence before the age of 18. According to a survey by Positive Action for Treatment Access, over 31.4 percent of girls said that their first sexual encounter had been rape or forced sex of some kind. The Center for Environment, Human Rights and Development reported that 1,200 girls had been raped in 2012 in Rivers State, a coastal state in Southeastern Nigeria. According to UNICEF, 6 out of 10 children in Nigeria have suffered emotional, physical or sexual abuse before the age of 18, with half experiencing physical violence. Chief of UNICEF Bauchi Field Office, Abdul Kai Kai, who disclosed at a briefing on the 2017 Children’s Day Celebration, said: “According to the findings of 2014 Nigerian Violence Against Children Survey conducted by the National Population Commission with the support of the United States Center for Disease Control and UNICEF, there is high prevalence of violence against children in all states in Nigeria.”
These are surely scary statistics, the very reality of the times we live in. But indeed, is there any justification for rape? Of course no. Can we not see that those who engage in rape, whether of minors or adults are obviously unbalanced mentally? The frightening reality before us is that this malaise is on the rise daily.
Indeed, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, this is the time to rise up and act. Enough of our fair speeches alone! Enough of our benevolent thoughts alone! Enough of our glorious wishes alone! This is the time to rise up and work. And in doing this we as an organization is
a. To start a campaign of sensitizing the people on the dangers of Child Abuse. Our campaign shall be carried out through Radio and T.V jingles and adverts, Interviews, Talk-shows, sharing our fliers, booklets; through churches and sundry social organizations.
b. To partner with reputable organizations such as Rotary International, International Organisations such as UNICEF, USAID, Doctors without Borders, etc, Radio and T.V Stations, Churches and sister organizations.
c. To sponsor non-existent bills on Child Abuse across the states of the Federation. This is because from our findings, there is a paucity of extant laws on Child Abuse in Nigeria.
d. To engage in alternative dispute resolutions involving Child Abuse.
e. To engage in litigations of child abusers, where necessary involving our security agencies in the arrest and prosecution of offenders.
f. To engage in proactive measures of training identified indigent children under the care of their own parents, in order to stop them from being loaned out to relations and strangers.
g. To engage in counselling of our children.
But can we achieve all these on bare hands, without moral and financial inputs from you and me? Again, of course not. Among our basic needs for now are:
- A Hummer Bus (Innoson Or Toyota-hiace) Branded With Our Logo And Name
- A Sustainable Overhead Running Costs of our Operations and Office Apartment
- Fund For Publicity – Radio/TV Jingles, Talk-shows Appearances, Fliers, Billboards, Workshops, Interviews, Outreaches, Etc
- Fund for Litigations, Arrest of Offenders through our Security Agencies, Securing of the Child Victims
- Fund for Child Care Support
- Public Address System
- Projector and Laptop
It is true that the world is currently embroiled in an economic flux; it is true that crass mercantilism has beclouded our humaneness in almost every facet of our humanity; it is true that before our very eyes various forms of evil are being legalized, yet it is true that if the very men and women of goodwill seated here today elect to remain silent in the face of evident evil besetting us, such as Child Abuse, soon we shall be overwhelmed by it. Again, Soyinka’s iconic words come to remind us that – “The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny.”
Our Inauguration for the Anambra State Chapter came up on Saturday the 26th of September, 2020 by 12:00 noon at the premises of ABS.
I shall end this speech before this august audience with the opening lines in one of my novels titled MOCKING THE DEAD – “Of what essence is wealth when it cannot be used by the wealthy to mitigate the needs of those in lack…? Shouldn’t wealth be taken as a slave to be used in wiping tears away from the teary eyes of the grieving, rather than as an ornament of decoration and an oil of vanity? Shouldn’t wealth be used in offering clothes to those who have no apparels to cover their shivering bodies from unfriendly elements? Shouldn’t it go into feeding those whose stomach go empty most nights, and giving shelter to those who have no shelter over their heads? Wealth that cannot serve any useful purpose for the needy is simply an abuse of what wealth should be meant for.
Why should one be in a hurry to make wealth, only to end up living only for self, to eventually die afterwards, leaving behind the same wealth … to be ravaged by those he left behind – if any – even before his corpse completely decays in the grave? Indeed, if wealth is incapacitated to uplift the downtrodden, to shed rays of joy upon the faces of those round it, it can only be an accursed wealth, fit for nothing, useless to both the living and the dead. No living thing, indeed nothing exists for the good of itself, but for the good of others. No sea benefits itself; no tree eats its fruits; yes, no human being should live merely for himself. Masses of water and fruits and herbs exist for the good of other living things. May we live for the good of our fellow human beings.”
Revered ladies and gentlemen, we can do this, you and us! Yes! Together, we can!