He is a concerned Parent and citizen who poured out his heart after hearing about the Kidnap of 3 siblings by a maid in Lagos yesterday.
It's longer than my usual posts, but i promise you, it's a worthy piece.
THE MISSING SURULERE KIDS AND THE NIGERIAN FACTOR.
The News has become boring these days as it ends up leaving us heartbroken irrespective of how stone hearted an individual may be.
Sadly that is the world we find ourselves living in , where human lives mean next to nothing to fellow humans. How did we ever get here?
From ISIS in the middle east, to Boko Haram in Nigeria, Al Shabab in Kenya, to trigger happy & excited cops in the US.
May God help us all.
However, in all of these cold blooded killings & evil happenings all over the world, the most heartbreaking ones has to be the ones that involves kids, innocent kids whose only crime is that they were born into this world at such a time when bloodshed is the order of the day for some sects.
We have failed them as a generation, and as if that is not bad enough, they now suffer and partake of the sins of their fathers/ past generation.
First to come to mind are the (STILL) missing Chibok girls that drew international attention and yet as we speak, the girls are STILL missing, unbelievably it’s a year already. More sadly,is the fact that we ,i.e. most of us that are not directly affected, are forgetting already.
THE NIGERIAN FACTOR. * we forget too soon*.
In a normal society/ country, those girls would not only have been adequately protected, they would have been found hours after the kidnap and they would not have been forgotten so soon.
It is bad enough that these evils happen. However what makes it worse, scary and indeed hopeless is the fact that its happening in a country where security of lives and property is a function of your financial status and what security you can afford for yourself and loved ones. The common man in Nigeria is left at the mercy of God.
THE NIGERIAN FACTOR. * adequate security is meant for the rich and the rich alone* .
Back to the recent missing Surulere kids. I took a last glance at my phone last night before going to bed & saw like 5 BBM broadcast messages from different contacts all over the world as far as the UK and Canada about 3 kids that have gone missing in Surulere, Lagos Nigeria.
I normally do not engage in sending broadcasts (at least not in the past 3 years), however, I could not see myself sleeping or finding sleep knowing that 3 innocent kids, ages 6yrs, 4 yrs and 11 months are probably in the custody of some blood thirsty ritualists in some thick forest, or perhaps being sold off by some mean devil incarnates.
No way would I close my eyes to sleep knowing that it could happen to anybody, me inclusive.
I looked beside me and there was my 3 year oldand my 2 month old daughters fast asleep, both of them knowing they are in the safe hands of daddy and mummy. No I just could not sleep.
I sent the BBM broadcast, if it was the least I could do, said a prayer for the safety of the kids and went to bed hoping to wake up to some good news that the kids have been found, hale and hearty.
That was not going to happen anyway, as I woke up this morning to the news that they have been found somewhere in shagamu & later came in a counter news that it is false and they are still missing.
THE NIGERIAN FACTOR. * we are quick to spread unnecessary, false rumors irrespective of the sensitivity of the subject matter*
Now this brings me to the whole essence of this write-up. The Nigerian factor.
In a sane country/ society, those kids and their story would make front cover of most ( if not all ) Dailies this morning 9th April 2015. they will also probably be all over the news on TV stations; all policemen & security personnel nationwide would be on red alert for any sign of the kids and infact all kids would be double checked.
However, the search of these innocent kids have been left solely to the social media and concerned Nigerians like you and I who can actually actually relate to what the poor parents of these kids could be passing though at a time like this. Twitter retweets, BBM broadcasts and facebook have been the major search platforms in over 24 hours since the disappearance of these kids.
THE NIGERIAN FACTOR. * we do not have value for lives, old or young* only the rich and influential gets the best of attention.
I just could not stop asking myself if these kids were kids of a top government official, let's say a senator or a governor or even a honorable in the house of assembly. I am very positive the search would have enjoyed wider coverage, been more intense and yielded results.
THE NIGERIAN FACTOR INDEED. *sigh*.
My initial reaction when I read through the broadcast about the missing kids was: 'How on earth would the parents leave 3 kids with a maid that just resumed work the previous day?'
However, just as I was about to blame the parents for negligence and start feeling like a saint, I quickly remembered I was almost a victim too and truly it could happen to anyone.
I had my second daughter 2 months ago & due to work pressure on both my wife and I (we are both bankers), She had to resume work just as my baby turned 7 weeks. We did not have any help and contemplated her resignation at some point as our only option was either that or to hire a nanny and probably fix a nanny cam in the house (yes, to avoid a repeat of the Ugandan evil maid story). It was at this point, my dear mum inlaw showed up for “omugwo” and salvaged the situation.
We were lucky to have my mum in-law come to the rescue, but how many couples out there have such luxury? How many couple/ families out there are left at the mercy of maids and nannies?
This I see as a result of inconsiderate, harsh working conditions in the country.
THE NIGERIAN FACTOR.
In some developed societies and their companies, nursing mothers get up to 6, 9 months and even a year of maternity leave. And not only that, certain companies, offices are mandated to have crèches, nurseries for nursing mothers.
I do not know the full story, but I want to believe that if the mother of these 3 kids had the option of keeping her kids in her office nursery or crèche now that schools are out of session, she would not have left her kids in the hands of a maid. (same thing I would have been forced to do 2 weeks ago).
It is NEVER a wise decision / option to leave
kids in the hands of maids. NEVER. They will always remain what they truly are, STRANGERS. Irrespective of the number of years they might have lived with you or how close/ fond of you or your kids they have become. DO NOT BE DECEIVED.
My prayer is that before I am done with this sad write-up, that these poor kids would have been found, safe and in good health.
Like I pointed out earlier, let us all pray for their safety, after all, that’s all their parents can afford in a country like ours. Prayers.
THE NIGERIAN FACTOR.
Olumide Akinlawon.
Concerned Parent.
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