The Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices (POCACOV), a police advocacy group, has called for responsive parenting to stem cultism and criminality within communities.
The National Coordinator of POCACOV, CSP Ebere Amaraizu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Wednesday that parents must invest more time towards moulding young minds for a safe and peaceful society.
According to Amaraizu, parents have to pay attention to the direction of young minds and re-enlist them into positive values, standards and discipline.
He said: “These are the positive pillars upon which our children must thrive.
“Cultism, substance and drug abuse, violent behaviours among our young minds are on the increase today because morals, values, standard and discipline appeared to be relegated to the background.
“I charge all, especially parents, to brace up and try as much as possible to change the narratives for our children for beneficial values.”
The national coordinator noted that parenting remained a serious business.
According to him, the advent of the industrial revolution and digital age created huge challenges and pressures in parenting and its responsibility.
He advocated for friendly working frameworks that would help to stabilise family units and for a functional community, saying, “the family is the immediate environment of any child in terms of socialization and education”.
Amaraizu said: “We have to be focused to make our children thrive as it will not benefit us anything to gain everything in our society and see our children not thriving.
“The future belongs to them, and we must play an adult guidance role for them to get it right.
“We must shun enforcement of consequences but rather make them grow from their mistakes towards becoming champions in life.” (NAN)