It’s often said that the smallest unit of any society is the family (particularly the nuclear family) whether in developed or under-developed society like ours. The import of the assertion above presupposes that any serious-minded Nation desiring genuine development and growth ought to seriously focus attention on strong family units. Simply put, good/responsible family outputs transcends into better community advancement and socio-economically viable country. Even though there are no ready statistics on the percentage of marital failures in Nigeria, the obvious truth is that majority of parents neglect their domestic responsibility for religious, social or commercial reasons.
On the religious frontier, vast majority of Nigerian parents leave home in the dawn of the day for morning prayers in their fellowship centers, without instilling the culture of waking up early on their wards. They visit prayer houses sometimes during the day and attend evening fellowships for most parts of the week, after which they return home late and tired, without having enough time to check on the academic and social life of their children/wards. The children’s destiny and molding are left in the hands of internet, uncensored television programmes as well as peers and neighbours who care less.
The parents who do not partake in religious activities spend majority of their time on social hang-outs, fraternizing with friends, associates and business/professional counterparts, only to return home very late after their children and wards have slept. These set of parents often wake up with the intent of rushing out to fend for the family the next day without the needed family union. Worst scenario is the socio-economic pressure which has forced both parents to work for means of livelihood, so as to pay daily bills, because the economic crunch has almost made it impossible for income from only the father alone to sustain the family needs. The implication of the above situations is such that children/wards no longer enjoy the necessary parental guidance, tutoring, virtuous values and visionary leadership which ought to form the basis for family development, excellent societal input and ultimately great Nation of People with sound educational, moral and ethical values. The essence of this piece is to awaken everyone of us, particularly those in leadership positions on the need to pay more attention to strong family units and growth, because a Nation with failed family units is a failed state.
Editor-in-Chief
×
![]()