Since the idea was mooted that Nigeria should change her name to United Africa Republic (UAR) and became a public discourse, there has been a litany of jokes by both the Twitter generation and the online comedians, many of whom seemed to find the name attractive, somewhat. At least, their jokes say as much.
But, there’s an instructive takeaway from the swirling jokes, which the leadership cannot afford to gloss over and it is the evident desire by many to have many things change about the country, including her name, if possible. Many people, indeed, now refer to themselves as citizens of the UAR and not Nigeria, with a matching flag already designed.
Instructively, therefore, if the cost of convoking another national conference is too much to bear for the country at the moment, it can as well as dust up reports of the old ones, the most recent being the one at the instance of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014 and implement. The message is clear: Nigeria as a union requires a review, going forward. It is the only way to save the fragile unity and address the palpable injustices.
…And UNICEF’s Sickly Report
In her April 2021 report tagged: “Digital Age Assurance Tools and Children’s Rights Online Across the Globe”, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), talked about how government policy could be used to protect children from harmful, abusive and violent contentsonline. The core of the report, however, suggested that preventing children from watching porn was an infringement on their rights. Really?
This conclusion was reportedly based on a European study of 19 EU countries, where most children,who allegedly saw pornographic images were said to be “neither upset nor happy.” The said UNICEF report further contended that 39 per cent of Spanish children engaged in the experiment were happy after seeing pornography.
However, disagreeing with the data, porn fighters contended that, “UNICEF’s report ignores the vast body of research demonstrating the harms of pornography to children. By ignoring the real harms pornography can have, UNICEF is playing roulette with children’s health and safety.” This was Lisa Thompson, vice president and director of the Research Institute at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, speaking.
Whatever UNICEF was thinking, it is shameful, embarrassing and disappointing that an international agency assigned to look after children – a helpless demography – has elected to put them in harm’s way. Can anyone trust their children with UNICEF anymore? It may not be beneath them to suggest in the future yet to come reasons to start giving paedophiles a breather in the community of sane people. With this report, UNICEF is a huge letdown; a bunch of jokers!
