DENYING THE CHILD DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND FIRST AID SKILLS, EARLY IN LIFE, DISFIGURES THE SOCIETY, AND VISITS THE CHILD WITH IMPAIRMENT, SORT OF

 

Continuing from my previous post on a similar topic, let me once again call on Adults: male and female, of all works of life, background, age and religious leanings, to consider as a top priority agenda, support for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), and First Aid (FA) skills acquisition, by children, across board. 

As adults, there is need for you to pay attention, and contribute unflinchingly to the building of a strong structure for DRR and FA skills development in communities, schools, Churches and Mosques, in Nigeria. 

DRR and FA skills, are life building packages, and tools of immeasurable value. All stakeholders, in the Nigerian project: professionals and non-professionals, must rise up, underscore the fact that DRR and FA Skills, are fundamental requirements for a modern society. Support for DRR and FA skills acquisition by children of school going age: those in conventional and non-conventional schools, must therefore, in the interest of the society, be pursued with commitment and vigour. 

Parents Teachers Associations (PTAs), in particular, and other groups of men and women, and the youth, must as a matter of fact, show unwavering commitment and clear direction in favour of any efforts at ensuring that Nigerian children of all background is giving full support to acquire DRR and FA skills. 

I hold the view and strongly too, that anything that denies the Child, opportunity to acquire DRR and FA skills, early in life, has disfigured the society, and equally visited the child with impairment, sort of. Without commitment at empowering/equipping Nigerian children with lifesaving and life support skills, the efforts directed at giving them livelihood skills, may be disrupted, and the benefits, either dwindle, stunted or completely eroded, by a preventable consequence of a natural or manmade mishap.

Sinace it is not expected that the society begins from the scratch to build structures for empowering the Nigerian child with the skills of DRR and FA, I consider it apt, and graciously so, the opportunity offered through the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS)’s structures, the School Units, and the Junior Units. The potency of the training packages and other activities of the now moribund Units, are in a nutshell, of immense value, and fundamentally, a requirement for building resilient families and communities. 

In view of the above, I make bold to say that urgent measures and deliberate steps must be taking by the education authorities, community and religious leaders, and others, to evolve at all the levels of governance, and community leadership structures to ensure proper engagements aimed or targeted at throwing up suitable modalities, among which should be a plan to work closely with the Nigerian Red Cross Society, to reactivate and run the Units effectively. Thus, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, report compilation of activities and their impact, and other follow up actions are required to ensure seriousness and commitment of the children, institutions and communities towards realizing objectives of the age long, Units. Whatever, it was that destroyed the Units and/or dropped its visibility, must be investigated and uprooted to guard against future occurrence. Such must be seen or considered, as not only wicked and destructive but dehumanizing. Recent events, in the society lay credence to this claim. 

School Units are institution based, are therefore, hosted in both the Primary and Secondary schools. In the same vein, the Junior Units are community based, thus hosted and run in the various communities. Membership of the two units, is comprised of male and female of school going age: primary/secondary. I am optimistic that the reactivation of both, will lead to massive development of DRR and FA skills in schools and communities. It will also enhance impact of DRR and FA in families and communities, as well as promote massive production of materials, and encourage the involvement of people in volunteerism, humanitarianism, environmental health, and hygiene promotion activities. By extension, it will increase health and healthy living environment, and lower drastically, the inhuman tendencies of people, as seen in the Nigerian society of present.

Nnabugwu Chizoba