Parents should live up to their responsibilitiesAjimobi

Our ReporterFormer First Lady, Dr. (Mrs) Florence Ajimobi, has urged parents to live up to their responsibilities by ensuring that they are always there for their children.She gave the advice yesterday when the Speaker and members of the Oyo State Childrens parliament and students of Lariken School paid her a courtesy visit.According to Mrs. Ajimobi, parents have failed in their responsibility because molested and children facing sexual harassment have been unable to confide in their parents, especially their mothers on what they are going through. Mothers have failed if their children are being sexually molested and they are unable to tell their mothers, she said.She recalled that during her tenure as the First Lady of Oyo State, she worked on a bill to ensure that childrens rights are protected. It took me four years to get the bill passed. At one stage, I had to put pressure on members of the State House of Assembly. The result of that effort is that it is an offence to rape, assault or batter a woman in Oyo State.She noticed that in spite of the bill, enough is still not being done to curb the growing trend. We are not talking to our children enough; we have failed as mothers.Read Also;Fix the home, fix the countryThe former First Lady expressed joy at the role of the Childrens Parliament in ensuring that traumatized young girls speak out about their experience and advised them to always speak out concerning challenges they face. Speak out, speak above a whisper. Let your parents know what is happening to you. Also look for mentors, somebody you want your life to be like, she advised.Earlier, Speaker of the Childrens Parliament, Daniella Abimbola Kolade, expressed appreciation to the former First Lady for always being in the vanguard of the welfare of children and women. You have constantly and relentlessly fought for the rights of women and children who are considered vulnerable in society. You have become a paragon for the children of Oyo State to look up t, she said.Miss Kolade noted that the visit was to further condole with Mrs. Ajimobi over the death of her husband, the former two-term Governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi.Oyo State now enjoys better dividends of governance in terms of school buildings, organised transportation, and good road networks. All what would not have been possible without the intervention of the immediate past governor who served the people till his last breath, she said.An award of excellence was thereafter presented to the former First Lady by the Speaker for being an icon, an inspiration and a model.
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