The Agony of Nigeria’s Children: The Bane of Nigeria’s Development

Abstract

No religion thrives without the family and the continuity of a family depends on the children. Religious training and recreational activities  are available outside the home, although both still have a place in family life. So, human development is an essential key to national  development. Also, bane refers to something that causes ruin and misery in an individual's or society's life. Africa is suffering today  because they have not developed their human resources to make use of nature-given gifts to better the lives of Africans. They are  malnourished and sexually abused, subjected to physical torture, mindless aggression and battery emotional abuse, subjugation and  suppression. Nigeria’s leadership at all levels has not realized the effect of early childhood development is the most important of all  stages of life to save Nigerian children from several agonies. They also experience harmful cultural practices and obnoxious religious  rituals. This paper adopts qualitative and sociological analysis to assess the impacts of these agonies on Nigerian children's national  development. Findings show that many of Nigeria’s children are not developing properly and unless they are taken seriously, Nigeria's  development will continue to be a mirage. It further suggests sound human development policies and their serious implementations as a  way toward meaningful development in Nigeria. Natural and human resources are two basic factors and tools for the development of  any nation. Taking it that natural resources are natural gifts, it is either a people have them or they do not have them; but human resources though a gift from God, yet man is a procreator. The only function of the family that continues to survive all changes is the  provision of affection and emotional support by and to all its members, particularly infants and young children.