Stakeholders have said attention must also be focused on boys in terms of training and preparing to have a balanced future and in the process also protect the girl-child.
They stated this at the seventh edition of the Academics, Fashion, Relationship, Outright (A.F.R.O) Conference which is a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative under the Tea-Gal Talks business brand at T.I Francis, Federal University of Technology last weekend in Akure.
Pastor Demola Awoyele, Lead Pastor of Destiny Impact Church, said well-trained men would lead homes and society as well as the leaders they are supposed to be.
Awoyele said God created men to be in charge and be leaders, but noted that it was better to train them at a young age and prepare them for adulthood.
He said an adult who was not prepared would need repair in the future; it was always hard to change an adult’s mindset and behaviour.
Awoyele advised participants on the 4 M’s that will guide them to navigate life: Mandate (Assignment), Manual, Manager and Mantle (Empowerment) and also to have the right manager and mentor to achieve God’s purpose for them on earth.
Awoyele urged men to strive hard and be a source of encouragement to others and not a disappointment to society.
“Men generally are supposed to handle a lot of things; if you train the women/ladies and neglect the men, you are handing over a trained lady to untrained men.
“I will encourage the Government and other organisations to focus on the men; we always assume that someone looking macho looks composed and everything is alright; there is this narrative that men are not allowed to speak up, that if you speak up, you are a weak man.
“We should create an environment of vulnerability where men can speak and receive the needed help, so organisation, government and the like should focus on men,” he said.
Also speaking, Mr Emmanuel Owoyemi, who spoke on Academic Pressing and Academic Pressure, said the conference was an eye-opener that men needed support too.
Owoyemi, while commending the NGOs that train girl-child, should always also look into subtle approaches by giving some important mentorship guides to the boy-child also.
He said: “There is going to be a big issue where a trained girlchild ended up with a boy-child that was not trained, so everyone needed to be trained and mentored to have the kind of balance we crave.”
The Convener, Tolulope Adetoke Asa in her welcome address, said the programme was dedicated to fostering men’s growth and development, empowering them for a brighter future.
According to Asa, people majorly focused on training the girl-child and always believed that boys would be fine.
She said she was impressed with the turnout and urged participants to spread what they had learnt from the programme to boost the knowledge of others.
“I want to encourage you: as a man, you are unique, and you need to step into the space that God has designed for you.
“Your identity as a man is not just about the organ between your legs or the ability to bully or oppress your peers or other gender. I want to relate your organ like this: P – Purposeful, E – Excellence, N – Neat, I – Integrity and S – Spiritual intelligence. As a man, it is okay to cry, hug, love and express your emotions intelligently,” she said.
Asa advised participants to have a credible manager and mentor to achieve God’s purpose for them on earth.
Another key speaker at the event, Mr Arionla Daniel, echoed the sentiment of earlier speakers and urged society to ensure the same attention is given to both boys and girls so that they can have a secure and balanced future. He encouraged the participants to be bold and own their stories to avoid negative peer pressure and miss the learning process of their journey, life requires you to understand your purpose and be intentional about healthy association and daily decisions.
+ There are no comments
Add yours