The wife of the Executive Governor of Cross River State Her Excellency Dr Linda Ayade has charged parents to instill/enforce discipline on their children even while loving them. Speaking during the *6th LAFARGE AFRICA NATIONAL LITERACY COMPETITION*, an event which had in attendance many important dignitaries like the Emir of Kano HRM Sanusi Lamido, Deputy Governor of Ogun State; Her Excellency Mrs Noimot Salako-Oyedele, the wives of the Ogun State and Gombe State Governors; Dr Mrs Olufunso Amosun and Hajiya Asma’u Yahaya, the Minister of Education; Mallam Adamu Adamu who was ably represented, the Chairman of LAFARGE; Mr Mobalaji Balogun, Competitors from six different States and their teachers and a host of others. 

Her Excellency expressed her satisfaction for being part of an event graced by important dignitaries who’ve all gathered to celebrate children who have come to compete and show case their talents in pronunciation and spelling forms which has today formed the bedrock of learning in any language. She thanked and appreciated LAFARGE for their continued sponsorship of the values and literacy which has remained the key driver of sustainable development while helping to deviate from the disturbing trend where organization has placed a huge sum on price money for winners of games and pageantry based on luck and natural beauty rather than the mental prowess.

In her words; “The over 700,000 Nigerian children that have been positively motivated by LAFARGE AFRICA PLC in the past 6yrs will never forget the impacts that has been brought into their lives and I believe they’ll replicate it in due time. You’ve contributed to the knowledge and economy of our great country and Nigerians appreciate you. I, therefore, throw a challenge to all our parents that are here today, I urge you to separate love from discipline as you can love your children and still enforce discipline in your home”.

 

Dr. Linda Ayade went on to advise parents to enforce strict adherent to age restrictions on their children for joining various social media groups as children who unfortunately are still within the impressionable age will be exposed to wrong values and negative tendencies and will turn out unproductive pupil or even become a threat to the society. She frowned at the fact that spellings and literary excellence has become a growing nightmare to many children in our today’s society as the days when education was strictly the concern of parents and school teachers are gone and advised that children are greatly and negatively influenced by the friends they make on various social media.

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The Wife of the Governor explained great strides achieved by her husband in the educational sector in the state with renovation of several primary schools building of model schools and even upgrading the quality of learning while employing several teachers to offer quality education to children. She said she will continue to support the literacy competition in the state as part of strategic move by Mediatrix Development Foundation to improve education.

She used the occasion to invite all present to the calabar carnival to unwind this December!

Speaking at the occasion was the Emir of Kano HRM Sanusi Lamido who frankly noted that federal Government has neglected education and has refused to prioritize it in their recent budget. His words; “Government in its recent budget has not made education a priority, if education especially that of the girl child was given priority the nation will find solutions to most of its problems. The Government on its own cannot do it alone, as such private organizations should emulate LAFARGE and invest in education rather than just infrastructure because it will be the innovative educated minds that can use and maintain this infrastructure”.

Others who spoke were the Deputy Governor of Ogun state, other wives of Governors and Rivers state emerged national winners admits stiff competition by 16700 pupils at various stages and regions.