I blame the Families

I spoke to someone whose family lives in Ikorodu today and I was terrified when he narrated to me how the badoo cult operates.

I thought they went to people’s homes like armed robbers but I almost passed out in shock when he told me that they diabolically appear inside people’s homes even with the doors under locks and keys and then they use stones to crush their victims’ heads. I have read about the stone killing and the soaking of their victims’ blood in handkerchiefs which are sold for half a million naira to native doctors/occultists.

What kind of evil is this? The devil has really taken over some people’s lives and it makes me wonder, who are the members of this cult? Do they not have parents? Are they human at all? And how do we curb the rate of evil in our society?

They are the regular people we see on the road, the menial job workers, street urchins, hawkers, those who beg to clean our windscreens in traffic, the homeless boys who sleep under the bridges and many more.

Although some of them may be motherless or orphans, but most of them do have parents, they did not fall from the sky. The truth is that some could have been abandoned by their parents not necessarily by the roadsides at birth but abandoned when that relationship ceases to exist between them and their parents. Every day, parents abandon their children, the rich and the poor are guilty of this.

The poor abandon their children because of poverty, they reach their limits and they leave the children to fend for themselves and these children end up with the wrong people, they do not even want much, there is no ambition, all they want is to be able to feed. They are hungry and gullible and so they are lured into all sorts of crimes.

The rich send their children abroad to study, it sounds pretty cool, but how often do you see them or speak to them? A senior friend of mine believes that it is wrong to send one’s child abroad to study if there are no plans to see that child as often as possible. If you are not there for your child, someone else will definitely be there for him or her and unfortunately, it is usually the wrong kind of person.

How do the youths learn to do drugs? From friends that they hang out with, people who are there more often than their parents will surely influence them.

The drugs are ravaging the youths especially the children of the wealthy, the rich and the famous. I listened to a former Director General of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA) recently as he spoke passionately about the need to combat the circulation of drugs especially in the Northern part of the country.

He spoke about how the badly affected are the youths from upper class families; some even sell off family valuables for drugs.
Notice  the negative meeting point  for the rich and the poor, when a rich kid and a poor kid are addicted to drugs, there is no difference between them and both can easily be drafted into any gang or cult and be made to commit all sorts of crimes.

My question is why do we fold our arms and do nothing? Must we wait for the government to do everything? We as citizens must do something tangible towards saving our society from the menace that bad parenting skills have caused in our environment.

I blame the families for what our youths have become, children become what they see, they learn what they are taught and they become what you instil in them. The teachers do their bit, the churches/mosques do their own bit but what do you do as a parent?

Your children listen to you more than you know. And this does not end with your biological children. As long as you ignore the next under-privileged child/youth near you who needs help, you are guilty of bad parenting.

Wealth means absolutely nothing if it has not affected lives positively, your wealth was given to you for a purpose; it is to serve humanity and not your family alone! Who have you helped? You own a Jaguar, a Porsche, a Bentley and all, “Who your moto epp?” as my local peeps will say. If you have but do not give,  you are actually very poor, in spirit.

It gives me pleasure when I encounter some extremely kind gestures and it makes me realise that the earth is still full of the Lord’s goodness in spite of all the evil and calamities.

A friend saw pictures of an outreach programme that I was part of and reached out to me to find a family that could do with some assistance. Together we prayed and hoped till we miraculously came across a family of seven with both parents late; further inquiry revealed that they lived on the salary of the oldest which was quite low. This friend doubled the salary and now the family survives on triple the monthly income that they had to make do with; this friend has promised to continue with this support indefinitely and has also indicated interest to fund the college education of at least one sibling. This receives my “Miracle of the Year Award” over and over again.

I can only imagine the positive difference it would make if most families or individuals who have been blessed decide to bless others, result - more young people would get a better shot at life, most people who would ordinarily go to bed hungry would be hungry no more. It takes just very little to touch a life positively.

The money you spend on bad habits could be better channeled. Just think about it.

I do not need any statistics to convince me that hunger contributes a great deal to the rise in crime rate in our society. A hungry man they say is an angry man.

Please do not consider it a curse but I mean it when I say these; that poor boy you failed to help, if he ever falls into the wrong hands, you will be his first victim! Your wealth will haunt you if you fail to give back to the society! Yes You! If you are getting worked up just by reading this, then you must be guilty, however, it is never too late to make a difference, please start now!