Yargote Foundation Marks International Day for the Boy Child, ……Advocates for the Right of the Boy Child, Charges Parents to Groom Boys along with the Girls

Yargote Foundation Marks International Day for the Boy Child,

……Advocates for the Right of the Boy Child, Charges Parents to Groom Boys along with the Girls

International Boys Day, observed annually on May 16th, is a day to recognize the importance of boys' well-being and the challenges they face, while also celebrating their positive contributions. It is a day to focus on their needs, acknowledge their struggles, and support them in becoming the best versions of themselves.

The 2025 International Boys' Day which has the theme, “Building Self-esteem in Boys, stand up, be heard, be seen”, focused on affirming identity in boys' and self-worth from the early age.

However, in Nigeria some NGO’s marked International Boys Day, one of the notable NGO’s is Yargote Foundation. Speaking with the Press on significance of the day, Anna Hussaini-Pai, Executive Director/Founder, Yargote Foundation, said the Foundation organised a road walk to mark international day for boy child. Adding that attention is shifted from the boy child to the girl child. She acknowledged the fact that much attention is being given to the girl child, leaving the boys without love and attention, this has caused scars and trauma to most of the boys.

The foundation embarked on a road walk to create awareness on the significance of that day. According to her, “we want to tell people about the importance of that day, because neglecting the boy child has cost us a lot, including life. Some Women that found themselves in an abusive relationship, sometimes dead, because most of the boys were not taught good morals and they end up becoming violent.”

She noted that the foundation Advocates for the right of the boy child or the men folks.

In her words

“From time immemorial, the girl child get attention than the boys. They want her to have good moral upbringing to represent the family properly when she is married. In so doing, the men folks are overlooked. He has to struggle for self discovery. He learns from his peers, school, and environment.

“The boy was not shown love, attention and affection and when he marries he finds it hard to understand the woman’s emotion. Since there is no love in his upbringing, it affects the boy at the long run.

She stressed that neglecting the boy child has cost a lot, from violent relationships to marriages that sometimes cost the death of the spouse. This is because the girl child is prepared and given good attention to be a good wife, while little or no attention is given to the boy child.

“These causes increase in drugs and substance abuse, cyber crime, kidnapping and other menace in the society.”

Mrs Anna maintained that we need to identify our value system, inculcating good moral upbringing in them, enlightening and educating them on the dangers of crime; letting them know that crime does not pay, rather it ruin ones life.

She called on parents to balance their grooming. According to her, “all hands must be on deck, the love and attention we are giving to the girls should also be giving to the boys.

“Fathers should be role models to their boys and teachers too should begin to teach good morals in schools, and curriculum needs to be checked.”

“In Yargote Foundation we teach the boys soft skills and community engagement. We started the pilot project with 25 boys and this year, we will train 100 boys.”

Yargote Foundation who has been engaging in self sponsorship with the support of few friends also needs the support of good spirited Nigerian, the government and relevant stakeholders.” Mrs. Anna said.