By Kayode Ojewale
The spate of kidnapping and ritual killings in the country has taken a different dimension as youth are now involved in the dastardly acts. In an attempt to make sudden wealth, these young folks, with dead conscience, indulge in acts which are capable of destroying their lives and causing an ineradicable blemish on their family image or reputation.
Sometime last year in Abeokuta, Ogun State, three teenagers were arrested for beheading and burning the head of their female friend for money rituals. The teenagers confessed, while being paraded by the police, that they saw on Facebook the guidelines on how to perform the rituals and become rich. The boys admitted that they strangled the victim and then dismembered her body parts.
The other day, a 24-year-old undergraduate of a Nigerian university was arrested for allegedly killing his 20-year-old girlfriend in the same school and harvesting her organs for ritual purposes. Could it be said that these young ones have lost their conscience or that they were never taught good morals? We need not ponder much as the reason is not farfetched – poor upbringing. The family is should take the lion’s share of the blame as parental functions have failed woefully in many quarters today. It all started from greed and metamorphosed into theft at an early age.
Not too long ago, it was revealed that mothers of young internet scammers and fraudsters have formed an association. Shocking! Mothers who should be moral and ethical guides have turned the other way. Maybe the association is to unashamedly enable them celebrate the unexplained wealth of their children. A new dimension of criminality, which involves making rituals and harvesting human organs, popularly called Yahoo-Plus, has now become the order of the day as compared to the regular internet scam activities known as Yahoo-Yahoo. Dry-cleaning isn’t your child’s vocation, yet he brings bales of cloths home and you as parents do not question that. It brings to fore the question of parental functions.
The glitz and glamour of a good life are the main things society now looks forward to. No matter the way or manner an individual, whether young or old, acquires or amasses wealth, society applauds them with huge respect. Only the rich have a say as they are always celebrated even if their wealth is ill-gotten. Material possessions are glorified while moral values are vilified and less talked about.
It is important to state that society is a reflection of various values portrayed by different families. Whatever obtains among young people values prevalently speak volumes of the families they originate from. Whoever we have become as an adult is a function of who we were at childhood. Unfortunately, attention isn’t usually paid to how good values could be instilled in children at the early stage of their lives. ‘The branches of an Iroko tree should be pruned at nursery to prevent a future damage if bigger than expected,’ states a Yoruba adage which explains why a family is expected to teach their children good morals early in life.
There is no doubt that moral values form the foundation for a healthy household and in turn a sane society. The family values are good morals which include love, respect, honour, sharing and forgiveness. When a family fails to give their children the time and attention they need, society suffers the consequence. Society then begins to breed unbridled, unlettered and uncultured products.
Some factors responsible for eroded values in a family may range from physical to psychological, and could be the fault of either parents or the children. They include family formation, social media addiction, job loss, divorce, economic hardship, infidelity, sexual/physical abuse, adoption, peer pressure, among many others. These factors also explain why society at large is threatened and remains where it is today due to the negative consequences they have on our collective well-being.
How then can these numerous challenges that are eroding important values and family unit be tackled head-on? There is a guiding principle in the Holy Bible which says: ‘Train up a child in the way he should grow and when he is old he won’t depart from it.’ Becoming parents isn’t just a mere status couples attain, it comes with huge responsibilities. Parenthood is not all about parenting a child, it encompasses taking charge of the whole life of that child from cradle to the age of accountability.
The erosion of family values is a pressing issue that demands urgent attention and action as the bulk does not stop at the table of government alone. The onus therefore lies on every family to be responsible for its members by preserving and enhancing good moral values. There must be a collective effort from individuals, community leaders, religious organisations and policymakers to prioritise family values. Measures to alleviate strain on struggling families should also be put in place by concerned authorities. This way, the family can transcend adverse challenges besieging it, then by and large, we rebuild our society and restore those deteriorated values to the family system.
Kayode Ojewale writes via kayodeojewale@gmail.com
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