19th April, 2013
Some religious leaders in Lagos State on Thursday attributed the increase in cases of rape to societal decadence and lack of parental care.
In interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, the clerics said that the country also needed good leadership to revive the norms and values of the society.
Monsignor Gabriel Osu, Director of Social Communication, Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, said that parents should be responsible for the training, guidance and protection of their children.
Osu said that it was their primary responsibility to take care of the home front.
“When they failed to carry out these responsibilities, they themselves have failed by putting the lives of their children at risk.”
Edward Onyejiuba of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, Ebute-Meta, said that schools and religious bodies should endeavour to impact religious knowledge and teach morality to the young.
According to Onyejiuba, when children are taught moral values in schools and churches, they will be able to defend themselves in the absence of their parents.
Also, Imam Shuaib Abdullahi, Executive Director, Zakat and Fadaqat Foundation, said that government should create an enabling environment by providing jobs for the unemployed.
“When we have millions of unemployed youths roaming the streets, what do you think will happen? An idle mind is the devil’s workshop,” he said.
Professor Ishaq Akintola, Director, Muslims Right Concern (MURIT), said that leaders at all levels should pay attention to reviving and teaching of societal norms.
“In the past, you hardly hear of underage children being raped, but these days we hear of three, four years old being raped.
“If the leaders pay attention to teaching and reviving the societal norms, all these vices and immoral attitude will vanish,” he submitted.