I know I’m not the only one seeing all this worrisome headlines of men using unsuspecting females for money rituals and other diabolic gains. I said “Men” but frankly these are kids using other kids for ritual, I really can’t explain how a 17 year old boy will have the guts to murder and then proceed to butcher another human being just for the sake of quick money.

I have been asking myself how we got here? How far our society has decayed to the extent that a 17 year old feels the need to take such drastic measures to “hit it big”. I know that we are always too quick to point accusing fingers at the government and lack of basic amenities, jobs and infrastructures as causes of all our problems. Believe me, I am not absorbing them of any blames, of course they are part of the problems we are facing in this country.

But it is so easy to cast blames on others for our problems, so instead of wallowing in our problems I would prefer we look inwards and examine ourselves, and if we can honestly do that, then maybe we can hopefully face the ugly truth and tackle it accordingly.

Lately, I have been pondering on what goes on in the mind of these teenagers trying to understand the kind of condition that drives them towards this callous acts and these behaviours reminds me of two philosophers with two contrasting theories about human beings. In one hand there’s Jean-Jacques Rousseau who believes that humans are born pure but their environment corrupts them eventually and then Thomas Hobbes who believes that humans are capable of both good and evil from the get go. I agree with both of these great minds and when you look at the Constant variables in their Theories the two constant is man and its environment (society); and when you think of society in simple terms it is made up of families in a particular location.

So the only and lasting solution to all the decadence in the society is a good and stable Family. Yeah that simple, a quick Google search of the word “Family” will explain it as “a group of one or more parents and their children living together as a unit.” or you can simply define it as the “smallest unit of the society” comprising of a single or both parents and the kids.

Now just imagine if everyone in a society is from a happy and thriving homes? How do you think the society will be? It is that simple, it all begins with the family, It begins with the Parents and their negligence and or Lack of parenting skills. All this Vices in the society; Arm robbery, Killings for rituals , girls doing runs, it all start with kids or people that grew or were raised in a broken home.

So whenever something goes wrong in the society like when a corrupt politician embezzle money, blame his parents for not raising him right, because if they have done their due diligence and instilled the fear of God in him, he would know that stealing is wrong, and when a girl is doing runs, don’t blame the government and lack of job opportunities for their career choice when many other ladies are doing honest jobs and thriving in the same society, blame her parents for failing her and having her believe that selling her body was the only way for her to succeed. And When a 17 year old believes his only way of making money is to kill for rituals please the blame should rest mainly on his family for failing him.

So basically all the ills and problems of the society can be prevented or nipped in the bud by parents. If we want a better society and a better country all we need to do is be better parents.

Concerned Nigerian