President of Anchor International Youth and Teens Work Academy (AIYTA), Dr. Bolarinwa Michael Omotosho has traced many of the social vices to a lack of good parental upbringing and peer pressure.
Omotosho made the observation on April 9, during the Cohort 1 and Cohort 4 residency of AIYTA in Lagos.
Bad parenting, peer pressure
He said vices like drug addiction, sex abuse, and internet fraud are consequences of bad parenting and in some cases peer influence.
He lamented that the situation is becoming worrisome adding that no reasonable government should look on while these vices fester.
“This menace has entrenched itself in communities. Therefore, parents, government, and religious institutions should be blamed because all these social behaviors started at home and were influenced by peers and the media.”
Omotosho also traced the increase in mental illness and poor academic performance to substances abuse among many young people.
The story has changed
He said that some years back, attention was on tertiary institution students, who were addicted to the use of different kinds of substances and all manners of sexual exploitation.
“Today the story has totally changed because of the prevalence of substance use among teenagers in secondary schools. Some students have made claims that they use substances due to family neglect, academic stress, societal influence, peer pressure, misuse of drugs by parents, traumatic life events, and social-economic factors,” he said.
He said the nonchalant attitude of the government and relevant stakeholders has increased the problem in society.
Rather than keep talking about this social menace, Omotosho pleaded that it is time to tackle them headlong.
He stated that the required solution cannot be achieved by a single sector of society.
“Therefore, it is high time that all institutions, government agencies, security agencies, traditional institutions, and religious institutions joined hands with non-governmental organizations (NGO) to win this fight. It is high time that all sector leaders in our society lay stress that child exploitation and substance abuse are criminal offenses in our nation,” he said.
Schools should wake up
He regretted that the nation’s educational institutions abandoned their missions of role modeling, preparing, and producing future leaders for nation development.
“Our educational institutions, which were created and sponsored with the goal of fostering intellectual understanding and change from one generation to the next, are slowly losing their purpose,” he said.
He challenged schools to find a way of fishing out bad students so they will not influence the good ones. “but more importantly, we should begin to provide training and exposures that will help tackle the menace” he said.
Omotosho, charged all AIYTA students saying, “the fight against child exploitation and substance abuse is a collective responsibility. This will reduce the high risk of innocent students becoming vulnerable.
Unfortunately, most of the vulnerable don’t report their abusers because they are afraid of the impact on their reputation, the stigmatization, they don’t know what will happen next, and they are afraid of police intervention, he added.
Goal of our youth academy
The AIYTA president said the academy is working towards becoming a renowned research centre in Africa to provide solutions to all children, teenagers, and youths.
He promised not to relent in bringing professionals that have the practical experience to facilitate in the academy.
At the last training sessions, Professor Babatunde Adedibu, Provost of the Redeemed Christian Bible College, Dr. Ranti Samuel, Senior Lecturer at Lagos State University, Dr. Priscilla Omotosho, a member of the Board of Trustees, Barrister Rotimi Ogunwuyi, a legal practitioner, and Dr. Bolarinwa Michael Omotosho, a veteran youth therapist, were facilitators.
Omotosho, also mentioned that in the quest to raise relevant future leaders for the nation and God’s kingdom, Anchor will hold a Next Generation Leaders Summit (NGLS) titled, “Transformational Leadership Style” on Saturday, May 28th, 2022.
All pre-registered participants will receive a free copy of the Africa Study Bible.
For more information contact: 08094826640
