By Stella Williams
The Lagos State Government has reiterated its resolve to eradicate all forms of bullying in all the public schools in the state. Speaking at the International children’s Day 2025 event at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium Alausa Ikeja, the Commissioner for Youth, Mr. Mobolaji Ogunlende said: “As a government, we are hosting this event for students, in all the education districts in the state, in line with the Theme: STAND UP, SPEAK UP,: Building a Bully-Free Generation,” “We are against bullying in any form, we are making it clear that bullying is wrong, we came here to talk about the negative effect that bullying has on people especially the youth and vulnerable people, how we can put a stop to it, we have said that bullying will not be tolerated in the state. Also speaking at the event, an educationist and a counselor, the owner of a Non governmental organization “Solid Teens and Youths Initiative, that have been working with teenagers and youths for over three decades, Mrs Gbemisola Agbato, pointed out that “bullying is a deliberate action, that is done repeatedly, to cause a person to be stressed, to humiliate, to oppress, most especially vulnerable people, with words or actions that do not have the ability to support themselves, that is what bullying is. “Some parents are also bullies, that is why we are trying to stop it now, sometimes if a bully does not go through therapy, if the bully grows up with that attitude, he becomes a bully as a parent, a teacher or professor in whatever profession he may be.
“Some children are being bullied at homes when you call them names, or when you tell them; “you are stupid, you can not amount to something in life, or you just talk down on a child is part of bullying.
“We start with the parents first, ensure that you are not bullying by your words or actions, causing distress or harm to that child, when ever the child comes back home to report incident of bullying, you need to believe that child and investigate to ensure that it is really an act of bullying, because of the effect of bullying on the child if not checked, can lead to what we call”child lock-up”the effect is locked up in that child and will come up later in his adult life, you are now wondering why this individual (policeman) is being aggressive, he might have been bullied as a child.
In his word, Mr. Denis Onoise, a child protection specialist with the United Nations Children Educational Fund (UNICEF) pointed out that though mechanisms are in place to protect the child, in Nigeria, they are not being protected enough. That is why we are here to let them know what the law says about them, we are drawing their attention to these facts about their protection and wellbeing.
A movie producer and a child Rights Activist, Mr. Wilson Ukhurebor, whose movie titled “DINA” was shown at the event explained that the movie is about a movement to create awareness about the violence against the girl child.
He posited: “We know in our society today, children go through a lot of harassment especially the girl child, they do not speak up, in DINA, the girls that we molested spoke up, unfortunately the school authority did not take the necessary actions so the students came together to take actions on their own thereby killing one of the teachers that sexually harassed them, which means that if nothing is being done about child molestation, children might end up taking laws into their hands, which means that they have been neglected by members of society and they have to defend themselves”, he added.
Ukhurebor encouraged children to always speak up until someone takes action.
The highlight of the event was the distribution of prizes and gifts to participating schools.
