Other Pages
- Opinion Poll
- About Us
- Send Your Story
- Contact Us
- Newsletter
- Privacy Policy
- Terms and Conditions
Father’s Day 2021 in Nigeria is celebrated today, Sunday, June 20.
AllNews puts together people’s advice from the country.
The Civil Liberties Organisation has admonished Christian fathers to always show love and respect to their wives and children in order to build happy homes.
The Chairman of CLO, Anambra, Mr Vincent Ezekwueme, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Sunday.
Ezekwueme spoke on the Fathers’ Day celebration by some churches in the country.
He charged fathers to listen to their wives and children, if they hoped to build an inclusive and better families.
According to him, fathers should accept and work with their wise advice and suggestions for better and greater families and society at large.
“Christian fathers should always fend for their families, which are their primary responsibility. “This is because ‘any man who cannot take care of his family is worse than an unbelievers’, according to the Holy Bible.
“Fathers must inculcate high moral values and fear of God in their families, which constitute a miniature church, and the foundation for morality should be laid in the family.
“They must take active part in their civic responsibilities by paying taxes, participating in the electoral process, fulfilling their financially obligations to the church, community and state.
“Fathers should ensure proper and adequate education of their children, wards and relations where and when necessary both in moral, academic and social life.
“They should ensure peace, love, tolerance and endurance in their various families and also build an environmentally and physically neat and healthy homes,’’ the activist said.
He further urged Christian fathers to be their brother’s keepers and volunteer support toward the uplift of the environment and community where they live.
“Fathers, as the head of homes, should reconcile disagreements and disputes among members amicably with unbiased minds.
“They should lead in the vanguard of the agitation for and protection of human rights, social justice, good governance and morality.
“And as the spiritual and political leaders of their families, they should ensure regular prayers in their homes,’’ Ezekwueme said.
The Chief Whip of the Senate, Sen. Orji Kalu, has appealed to fathers in the country to unite to surmount the current economic and security challenges facing the nation.
Kalu made the appeal during a special Sunday Mass held at Our Lady Queen of Nigeria Pro-Cathedral, Abuja, to mark the 2021 Fathers’ Day celebration.
The Senator representing Abia North Senatorial District, described fathers as ‘Soldiers of Christ’ and stressed that they have critical roles to play for the country to overcome her problems.
According to him, though Nigeria is going through some problems, fathers in the nation have a pivotal role to play to overcome those problems.
While tasking fathers to rise up to occasion of defending the church and the nation at large, Kalu extolled them for the roles they perform at home and the society at large.
According to him, fathers exert conscious roles at ensuring that needs of the family are provided.
“Our commitment as Nigerians and fathers shall never be in vain.
“I urge all fathers in the country to put their heads together in the best interest of our nation.
“As a nation, we are in pains as a result of the security challenges that we are passing through.
“Fathers should stand up as Soldiers of Christ and defend the church and Nigeria at large.
“As fathers, we must continue to advocate for peace and unity in diversity beginning from our homes,’’ he said.
The officiating priest, Rev. Fr. Charles Okeke, congratulated fathers on their celebration and acknowledged the roles of fathers in nation building.
According to Okeke, the role of fathers in nation building cannot be over emphasised.
The Catholic cleric, while outlining the benefits of aligning with the Catholic Men Organisation (CMO), urged fathers who were yet to register with the association to do so.
An Anglican Cleric, Most Reverend Alexander Ibezim, has charged fathers to take seriously the responsibility of building healthy homes to enhance a safer society.
Ibezim, the Archbishop, Ecclesiastical Province of the Niger and Bishop of Awka Anglican Diocese, made the call in a message he delivered to mark 2021 Father’s Day celebration.
He said that fathers, being the heads of the families, needed to be celebrated for the important roles they played in enlarging the society, hence a day was set aside to celebrate them.
He said that fathers had great responsibilities to nurture their homes to develop a great society.
At the Church of the Pentecost, Awka, Venerable Ekene Nwafor, Vicar in charge of the Church, read the only text during the service to mark Fathers’ Day.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the title of the message was, “Joseph the Carpenter: A Role Model” with the text taken from the Gospel of Luke 2, verse 41 – 42.
Nwafor, also the Archdeacon, Awka Central Archdeaconry, charged fathers to ensure that they were rooted in Christ to be able to raise healthy homes.
He encouraged fathers to hold onto prayers as only solution to a challenging time and at any time where life challenges steered at them, face to face.
Mr Osita Obi, Chairman 2021 Fathers’ Sunday Planning Committee of the church of the Pentecost, urged fathers to place home training and care of the family as their main duty.
Obi said that more attention should be given to family development to have a healthy home that would serve as a unit of socialisation and societal development.
“When we get the home front right, then we are sure of safe environment that will make life activities thrive, without fear of any attack.
“Fathers must take responsibilities of their homes,” he said.
Mr Okey Anyanyo, a member of the planning committee, advised that it was time for parents to sit down and monitor the activities or company their children kept.
Anyanyo said that parents had placed materialism above proper and sound home grooming and had abandoned the care of the home to domestic helps.
“It is time for a rethink and a change of attitude.
“Many parents cannot give full account of who their children outside home are. Some fathers think that to care for a home is to provide money.
“This is not so. Fathers need to monitor what goes on in their homes,” he said.
Mrs Victoria Nwosu, a parishioner, commended the church for setting out a day to celebrate fathers for their enormous work in home development as well as to remind them of their great importance in home care.
In the same vein, Venerable Chris-Nkem Okafor, Vicar Saint Judes’ Church Adazi-Ani, in Adazi-Ani Archdeaconry, Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra, urged those fathers who shied away from their responsibilities to sit up.
Okafor said that some fathers had, through family negligence, been championing single parenting and warned that they should live up to their call of parenting.
“Parenting as was seen in the life of the biblical Joseph instills discipline, love, peace and togetherness in the families; the story should not change today,“ he said.
He appealed to fathers to love their wives, look inwards into their families and discipline themselves, noting that when they got it right in their families the society would be a better place.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent who monitored the celebration reports that the service sessions were peaceful.
NAN reports that some fathers spoke on the significance of the day, including Chief Silas Ejide, Obum Ezeaku, Dr Chijioke Umezue and Beaneth Ugoagu.
They appealed to fathers to eschew social lifestyle that triggered division and collapsed marriages.
NAN reports that services in the churches visited were conducted by fathers while, also, special prayers were offered for the enthronement of peaceful families and security of the nation.
A Methodist Cleric, Ver Rev Osondu Ekweremadu has urged husbands to always spend time with their wives to spice up their marriages.
Ekweremadu made the call on Sunday in Enugu during a sermon to mark the Father’s Day at the Central Methodist church, Uwani, Enugu.
Speaking on the topic, “There’s Work”, Ekweremadu noted that many men no longer give attention to their wives and children but in the pursuit of economic gains.
“Once in a while, take your wives to vacations and functions to know how they feel and make them feel loved.
“Some wives are dying in silence for lack of spousal love. Show them love and sometimes cook for the family; it excites the children,” he said.
Ekweremadu expressed dismay that some fathers had left their responsibilities to their wives, adding that it was unhealthy for the family.
The clergy urged men that there was work to do in the family and reminded them to always focus on God.
In a message to fathers, the Enugu Methodist Archbishop, Most Rev Christopher Edeh urged fathers to always pray for their families, the church and the nation.
Edeh also urged them to make impact in and around the environment for peace and unity of the country.
0 Comment(s)