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EVAIA: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ETHICS AND VALUES Volume 1, NO. 1,  July, 2020 

 

Matthew Ike Obijekwu, Adeline N. Okeke, Augustina U. Okafor                                                                                Page 67 
 

RESPONSIBLE PARENTHOOD: A PARADIGM SHIFT FOR 

SUSTAINABLE PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE, SOCIAL SECURITY 

AND POLITICAL STABILITY IN NIGERIA 

 

 

Matthew Ike Obijekwu, PhD1;Dr. Adeline N. Okeke2; and Rev. Sr. 

Augustina U. Okafor3 

 
1ChukwuemekaOdumegwuOjukwu University, Igbariam, Anambra State 

Email: mi.obijekwu@coou.edu.ng 
2School of General Studies, Anambra State Polytechnic, Mgbakwu,  Anambra 

State; 
3Department of Guidance and Counselling, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, 

Anambra State 

 

 

Abstract 

In this paper, we shall consider responsible parenthood as a paradigm shift to 

sustainable peaceful co-existence, social security and political stability in 

Nigeria. The issue, as we argue in this paper, is that most of the anti-social 

behaviour found among some members of the society is due to the negligence 

and irresponsible parenting observable in most families. Herein, we argue that 

families have enough to contribute to the sustainable peace, social security 

and political stability in the globe, and Nigeria in particular. The truth remains 

that every human person comes from a family either of a single parent or of 

both parents. Suffice to say that every terrorist, kidnapper, armed robber, 

militant, prostitute, etc comes from a family. The aforementioned persons 

could be said to be brought up by irresponsible parenthood. Contrary to this is 

what the titled of this paper considers as responsible parenthood. Using 

analytic method, therefore, we examine the concept of responsible 

parenthood. We also consider the import of responsible parenthood with 

regard to peaceful co-existence, social security and political stability in 

Nigeria. We find out that families have serious role to play in achieving and/or 

promoting mutual cooperation, mutual understanding of the tribes, ethnic 

groups, and cultural relations in Nigeria. We further maintain that if families, 

parents as the architects and pilots of each family, should take up, and be 

committed to their primary responsibilities, definitely, there will be relative 

peace, social security and political stability in the world and in Nigeria in 

particular.  

 

Key words: Responsible parenthood, peaceful co-existence, social security, 

political stability, Nigeria 

 

 



EVAIA: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ETHICS AND VALUES Volume 1, NO. 1,  July, 2020 

 

Matthew Ike Obijekwu, Adeline N. Okeke, Augustina U. Okafor                                                                                Page 68 
 

Introduction 
One may ask; what is responsible parenthood? How can responsible 

parenthood be a paradigm to sustainable peaceful co-existence, social security 

and political stability in the globe and Nigeria in particular? Answering these 

questions will help us to discover the relevance of family in human and social 

reconstruction. Family, as it stands, is a universal phenomenon. Early 

philosophers, especially political philosophers did not pay much attention to 

family as the nucleus of social and political change. According to Austin 

(2020), Kant and Aristotle did so in fairly way or in fairly terse manner. 

Getting at the end of twenty century, the discourse on family changed. Today, 

family issues have been explored by philosophy due to the place of family in 

contemporary society.  

 

Currently, due to occurrences of child abuse and other challenges facing the 

entire society, attention has been drawn to the child’s rights and parents’ 

obligation to their children. Austin (2020) notes that the claim that parents has 

obligations, as parents, are less controversial; the basis of this claim has been 

the problem. Austin (2020) asserts that the concern of philosophers is not just 

on the theoretical questions related to parental rights and obligations; their 

attentions have been also focused on the practical questions in the realm of 

human life. Some issues on discussion are basically with respect to medical 

decision making, the autonomy of children, child discipline, the licensing of 

parents, and the property of different forms of moral, political, and religious 

upbringing have continued to receive increased attention (Austin, 2020).  

 

Having seen the dimensions of philosophical discourse relating to family in 

contemporary society, this paper chooses to consider the impact of responsible 

parenthood in achieving peaceful living, social security and political stability. 

The fact remains that the role of families in every community, state and nation 

can never be overestimated. Families are the nuclei of every society. Aristotle, 

in his Politics, observes the generative structure of the family (Nwoko, 1988). 

For him, conglomeration of families or households brings about communities; 

conglomeration of communities form states; and conglomeration of states 

forms a nation and by extension the world. Ordinarily, every state or nation 

desires for responsible citizens, and there can never be a responsible nation-

state without responsible families. Of course, there can never be responsible 

families without responsible parenthood.  

 

Our world, at this point in time, seems to be a confusion world; a world of 

war, conflict, terrorism, violence, marginalization, discrimination, and 

exclusion of some sections of the world. Across the six geopolitical zones in 

Nigeria, from the South-East, South-West, South-South, North-West, North-

East to North-Central, there has been one security problem or the other. 

Among these problems include herdsmen and farmer’s problem, Boko Haram 



EVAIA: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ETHICS AND VALUES Volume 1, NO. 1,  July, 2020 

 

Matthew Ike Obijekwu, Adeline N. Okeke, Augustina U. Okafor                                                                                Page 69 
 

challenges, Fulani militants, Niger Delta militants to mention a few.  Other 

related issues here involve armed robbery, kidnapping, cultism, prostitution, 

extra-judicial killings, etc. The perpetrators of these anti-social actions are not 

from the moon or the sky; instead, they are from their different individual 

families and communities. Hence, the burden of this paper is to consider 

responsible parenthood as paradigm shift for sustainable peaceful co-

existence, social security and political instability in Nigeria.  

 

Parent(s), Parenthood and Responsible Parenthood: What are they?  

The three concepts, “parent”, “parenthood and “responsible parenthood” are 

vital concepts in this paper. So explaining these concepts will help in the 

better understanding of the paper. The concepts parent(s) and parenthood 

have been so difficult to define. The reason is that there are different 

understandings or attachments to their meaning. Of course, various 

approaches have been used; such as biological approach, legal approach, and 

social approach to define the concepts. Among those approaches include 

biological parenthood, social parenthood and legal parenthood. Most of these 

approaches are due to modern technological development, adoption policies, 

and other recent evolution in human society regarding definition of rights as 

posited by philosophers, legal jurisprudence, constitutions of various nation-

states, etc. Though, a different approach has been taken because of the scope 

of this work. There are interesting topic here one can still research on as 

regards the societal influences on child’s and parental engagements, which are 

also very important for social change.  

 

A parent can simply be defined as someone with weighty rights and 

responsibilities regarding a given child (Elizabeth & Millum, 2016). 

Explaining further, they state that parents always have decision-making rights 

over most areas of their child’s life and rights to exclude others from making 

such decisions. As far as parents are able to fulfill the obligation to educate, 

feed and offer healthcare services to their children, they can take other 

decision on behalf of their children. They determine when they play, eat, and 

associate with friends (Austin, 2020). This position is with regard to 

determining the rights of children, the parents’ rights and obligation over their 

children  

 

However, parenthood, as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is “the 

state of being a mother or a father. The term, ‘responsible parenthood’ is of 

two words, responsible and parenthood. Here, the word, responsible is 

serving as an adjective qualifying parenthood. It informs us more on the type 

of parenthood we are talking about in this paper. Of course, there are different 

kinds of parenthood as mentioned earlier like social parenthood, legal 

parenthood and biological parenthood. Such are not what this paper is 

considering. Contrary to responsible parenthood is irresponsible parenthood. 



EVAIA: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ETHICS AND VALUES Volume 1, NO. 1,  July, 2020 

 

Matthew Ike Obijekwu, Adeline N. Okeke, Augustina U. Okafor                                                                                Page 70 
 

The term responsible parenthood is therefore defined “as the will and ability 

of parents to respect and to do the needs and aspirations of the family and 

children. It is also seen as the ability of a parent to detect the need, happiness 

and desire of the children and helping them to become responsible and 

reasonable children.  It is a shared responsibility of the husband and the wife 

to determine and achieve the desire number, spacing, and timing of the 

children according to their own family life and aspirations, taking into account 

psychological preparedness, health status, socio-cultural and economic 

concerns. There are social, religious and cultural dimensions of responsible 

parenthood. One can rightly say that the concept “responsible parenthood” has 

a Christian origin. Majda Cernic Istenic (2007), in his book, Understandings 

of Responsible Parenthood Among University Educated: ‘Listening to Our 

conscience is a Very Demanding Vocation’, points out that the doctrines on 

marriage and family by the Protestant and Catholic Churches seemed to have 

led to the emergence of the idea of responsible parenthood.  

 

Emergence of the Notion of Responsible Parenthood  

Istenic (2007) traces the emergence of the responsible parenthood to the 

period of early Christians. In his view, before the notion of responsible 

parenthood, Christianity was primarily pre-occupied with the idea of 

community attitude; brotherhood and sisterhood. With this attitude, family is 

seen as an obstacle to the enforcement of the community;, brotherhood and 

sisterhood idea of the early Christians (Istenic, 2007). At this time, religion 

influences people’s thoughts about children, with regard to their meaning, 

their desirability and their rights (Istenic, 2007).  The concern of the Church, 

that is, the early Christians was on the virginity which was considered the 

supreme value. As a result, marriage and family were seen as an expression of 

human weakness and limitation. The real Christians were those who mastered 

and controlled their emotions and instinct (Istenic, 132). Mount cited in 

Istenic (2007) assertes that the limitation of expression of love did not pertain 

only to husband and wife, but also to emotions between parents and children, 

not love. “The Church”, as he says, maintains that "too much love between 

parents and children was a humiliation to God." So understanding of family, 

at the Renaissance period, was seen as the place of individuality, and in 

opposition or a threat, to broader community.  

 

Contrary to the position of the Church however was the position of the 

emerging nation-states. The Church was accused of greed by the state for 

activities like collection of indulgences for “sinful” sensual pleasures. For this 

reason, according to Goody cited in Istenic (2007), the Church lost its position 

of supreme political force, and a result, turned its attention to the sphere of 

privacy.   

 



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Matthew Ike Obijekwu, Adeline N. Okeke, Augustina U. Okafor                                                                                Page 71 
 

The subtle inconsistencies between the Protestant and Catholic doctrines on 

the matter of procreation gave credence to the development of the term 

responsible parenthood. For the Catholic, procreation is the exclusive purpose 

for sexual act, while for the Protestant, sexual pleasure was the purpose of 

sexual act, and as a result, procreation is not the prime purpose for marriage, 

but one of its purposes (Chrisman, 1983). Flandrin cited in Istenic (2007) 

notes that for Protestant, married couples were allowed to limit their 

procreation with abstinence for the benefits (survival) of their already born 

children. This is in connection to population control of the number of children 

for each family. For the Catholic, husband and wife required sexual act so as 

to fulfill their conjugal obligations always and without any interference in 

order to avoid adultery (Istenic, 2007). Elaborating further, Chrisman 

(1983:192-3) points out that: 

 

Despite the fact that procreation is not the 

primary purpose for marriage as maintained 

by Protestant, the Protestant priest taught that 

the upbringing of children was the primary 

responsibility or function of family. The 

family was the place where every child 

expresses the conversion of assignment 

among those reborn. The ideal upbringing of 

children was somewhere between repression 

and permissiveness, a combination of strong 

discipline linked with the ideology of original 

sin (children are by their nature sinful beings 

and for that reason they have to be socialized 

by frightening them with death and eternal 

damnation, and parental love). 

 

From the excerpt, responsible parenthood involves discipline of children just 

to correct their claimed original nature of sinfulness. It is proper to note that 

theory of sinfulness of a child is among the theories of children at birth.  Other 

theories include innatism championed by the rationalist philosophers, namely; 

Rene Descartes, Spinoza and Leibnitz who propose that at birth a child has 

innate ideas that develop in the course of his growth and development of the 

intellectual categories. This occurs in the formation of ideas as the child 

reflects on the perceived objects around his or her environment (Omoregbe, 

2005). On the other hand is the theory of tabula raza propounded by the 

empiricists philosophers, namely; John Locke, Bishop Berkeley and David 

Hume who assert that at birth human brain (a child brain) is blank like a white 

sheet (Omoregbe, 2005).  

 



EVAIA: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ETHICS AND VALUES Volume 1, NO. 1,  July, 2020 

 

Matthew Ike Obijekwu, Adeline N. Okeke, Augustina U. Okafor                                                                                Page 72 
 

Ozment quoted in Istenic (2007) states that contrary to the Ten 

Commandments that prescribed obedience and submission of children to 

parents, but did not say anything on the parent’s responsibilities to their 

children, that Protestant catechisms from the 16th century taught: “Do not live 

according to the principles of your parents neither obey their orders…Christ 

asked us to respect our fathers and mothers, but not to trust them or believe 

them”.  

 

One can simply say that the concept of responsible parenthood is developed 

from the Christian doctrines that emphasized the recognition of children’s 

rights and person’s individuality, which were later developed in subsequent 

years. Responsible parenthood was a call for parents to exercise their parental 

responsibilities by the Church. Though, there have been several modifications 

of the definition to cover other areas of child’s life. It was the Protestant view 

towards marriage and parenthood that led to outright definition of responsible 

parenthood, which took place between 1948 and 1965 in the frame of the 

World Council of Churches.  

 

From the review of the development of concept responsible parenthood made 

above, it can be deducted that: a) procreation determined the development of 

the concept; b) responsible parenthood emerged to address the problem of 

abortion as a measure to preventing conception; c) to regulate the number of 

children families desired to produce; d) to protect the rights and person’s of 

children; and e) to help parents to care for their children’s moral development, 

education, etc.  

 

Present Understanding of Responsible Parenthood 

The present understanding of responsible parenthood is no longer restricted to 

procreation as seen from its inception or development. It has got other 

approaches. Nowadays, parents are either applauded or criticized on how they 

trained their children. Those families that offer their children the basic 

necessity of life like sound education, moral training, good health, and other 

basic necessities of life are said to be responsible parents. As defined above,  

Responsible parenthood is the will and ability 

of parents to respect and to do the needs and 

aspirations of the family and children. It is 

also seen as the ability of a parent to detect 

the need, happiness and desire of the children 

and helping them to become responsible and 

reasonable children.  It is a shared 

responsibility of the husband and the wife to 

determine and achieve the desire number, 

spacing, and timing of the children according 

to their own family life and aspirations, 



EVAIA: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ETHICS AND VALUES Volume 1, NO. 1,  July, 2020 

 

Matthew Ike Obijekwu, Adeline N. Okeke, Augustina U. Okafor                                                                                Page 73 
 

taking into account psychological 

preparedness, health status, socio-cultural and 

economic concerns (passnownow.com, 

accessed, 9/04/2020). 

The present understanding of the responsible parenthood is also visible in the 

United Nations definition in one hand; and the state's or nation's constitutions 

on the other hand. Certainly, responsible parenthood has posed a global 

debate. The United Nations Organization has been paying much attention to 

this with regard to the progressive increase in the global population, the 

mortality of children across the world due to abortion and use of 

contraception. Other areas involved the promotion of child rights for adequate 

education, health, child's development, etc. These ideals of responsible 

parenthood are drawn from the previous understandings which were later 

modified in the 20th century.  

 

At present, responsible parenthood covers various aspects of child’s life. In 

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations notes that 

childhood is entitled to special care and assistance (Convention on the Rights 

of the Child, 1989).  It asserts that family, as the fundamental group of society 

and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members 

and particularly children should be afforded the necessary protection and 

assistance so that it can fully assume its responsibilities within the community. 

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) states that:  

The child, for the full and harmonious development 

of his or her personality, should grow up in a 

family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, 

love and understanding…should be fully prepared 

to live an individual life in society, and brought up 

in the spirit of the ideals proclaimed in the Charter 

of the United Nations, and in particular in the spirit 

of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and 

solidarity.  

 

The Convention asserts further that "the child, by reason of his physical and 

mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate 

legal protection, before as well as after birth". Due to the global concern of 

good parenting, and deadly implications of irresponsible parenthood, various 

Conventions and conferences have been organized by the United Nations to 

improve and sustain the basic rights of children all over the world. Among 

these Conventions include: the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child 

of 1924, the Declaration of the Rights of the Child adopted by the General 

Assembly on 20 November 1959; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; 

the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (in particular in 

articles 23 and 24); the International Covenant on Economic, Social and 



EVAIA: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ETHICS AND VALUES Volume 1, NO. 1,  July, 2020 

 

Matthew Ike Obijekwu, Adeline N. Okeke, Augustina U. Okafor                                                                                Page 74 
 

Cultural Rights (in particular in article 10); others are seen in the statutes and 

relevant instruments of specialized agencies and international organizations 

concerned with the welfare of children,  the provisions of the Declaration on 

Social and Legal Principles relating to the Protection and Welfare of Children, 

with Special Reference to Foster Placement and Adoption Nationally and 

Internationally; the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the 

Administration of Juvenile Justice (The Beijing Rules) ; and the Declaration 

on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict.  

 

 The United Nation recognizes that, in all countries in the world, there are 

children living in exceptionally difficult conditions, and that such children 

need special consideration. It takes cognizance of the traditions and cultural 

values of each people for the protection and harmonious development of the 

child. It as well recognizes the necessity of international cooperation for 

improving the living conditions of children in every country, especially in the 

developing countries.  

 

Responsible Parenthood and Peaceful Co-existence 

Family, as it is, is the primary agent of socialization. School, church, and 

peer-group influences are the secondary agents in the life of every child. So 

the fundamental social values like justice, equality of every human person, 

love, solidarity, unity, rule of law and others should be taught to the children 

in the individual family. Family is by extension the global world. That is why 

some scholars like Martin Luther King, Jr., Martin Buber and Julius Nyerere 

gave the inter-connective view of the world in their philosophical thoughts. 

Julius Nyerere of Tanzania did describe the world as a family. Family, in the 

understanding of Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, as elaborated in the TANU 

booklet, Ujamaa: The Basis of African Socialism and the Arusha Declaration 

of 1967 is a nucleus of the world.  ‘Ujamaa’, as observed in Nyerere’s work, 

is a Swahili word, which stands for “familyhood” or “Brotherhood” (Nyerere, 

1967: 11).Nyerere applied this word to interpret his own understanding of 

African traditional society which he believed was socialist society. The word, 

socialist society, as used here, involves, participation, caring and sharing 

society unlike Karl Marx view that portrays individualism and conflict 

orientated. For him, the root of Africa socialism is founded in the concept of 

“familyhood.” He emphasizes that the foundation of African socialism is 

extended family (Nyerere, 1967). Despite that fact that Nyerere laid much 

emphasizes on African society as he tried to explain the relations of Africa 

with the world, he drew his philosophy from the general universe; it is beyond 

the usual idea Africans have about family unit or family ties in the traditional 

African society. The traditional understanding of the interconnectivity that 

exists within the framework of community was extended to incorporate the 

whole humanity. Nyerere, in his Ujamaa: The Basis of African Socialism, 

writes: 



EVAIA: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ETHICS AND VALUES Volume 1, NO. 1,  July, 2020 

 

Matthew Ike Obijekwu, Adeline N. Okeke, Augustina U. Okafor                                                                                Page 75 
 

 

Familyhood in Africa is extended beyond the 

basic family unit; that familyhood goes beyond   

the basic family nucleus, beyond the tribe, the 

community, beyond the nation. It must include 

the entire humanity. It forms the traditional life 

of the African people, where the sense of 

brotherhood is strong; where society is so 

organized that it cares about the individual; 

where the society looks after every one 

including widows and orphans; where no one is 

allowed to starve because of lack of wealth 

(Nyerere, 11). 

 

This is one of the inherent values of the family. We may draw a brief 

universal meaning of responsible parenthood in the context of global 

familyhood or brotherhood, or rather global responsible parenthood. This is in 

relation to those individuals who have seen the world as a global family of 

equality, justice, respect for fundamental human rights, as against injustice, 

inequality, discrimination, marginalization and exclusion of some sections of 

the world due to racism, colonialism, and slavery/slave trade. One can as well 

extend to other factors like economic exploitation of the developing countries 

through some of the financial institutions of the world. This may be seen as a 

diversion from that context or content of this paper, but is among the basic 

responsibilities of the responsible parenthood to expose its dangers for the 

sake of universal peace and mutual cooperation. Martin Luther King, Jr 

quoted in Jones (2014: 137) once states: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to 

justice everywhere” 

 

Other principle of universal familyhood, brotherhood and/or sisterhood 

responsible parenthood is expected to pass to their children is such Martin 

Luther King, Jr championed when he writes: 

All life is interrelated. All men are caught in an 

inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a 

single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one 

directly affects all indirectly. I can never be 

what I ought to be until you are what you ought 

to be, and you can never be what you ought to 

be until I am what I ought to be. This is the 

interrelated structure of reality (Obijekwu, 

2020) 

 Gandhi asserts that “the good of the individual is contained in the good of 

all”. Martin Buber, in his book, I and Thou, related the idea of cooperative 

existence. For him, “man is free, creative and fully human only to the extent 



EVAIA: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ETHICS AND VALUES Volume 1, NO. 1,  July, 2020 

 

Matthew Ike Obijekwu, Adeline N. Okeke, Augustina U. Okafor                                                                                Page 76 
 

that he possesses, in action and suffering, in his own life, a relationship which 

binds him completely with others…I become through my relation to thou; as I 

become I, I say Thou. All real living is meeting (Obijekwu, 2020).   

 

Responsible Parenthood and Social Security 

As said earlier that family is the nucleus of every nation-state. Whenever 

parents fail to carry out their basic responsibilities of training their children in 

basic norms, values and traditions of the society, automatically, the entire 

community, states and nation is bound to collapse, even the entire world. 

Wherever there is a peaceful and harmonious family, there is a peaceful and 

harmonious world. It is a well known statement that "no one gives what he 

has not". The truth is that any child that is well educated or trained on the 

principles of peace be it family peace, community peace and nation's peace by 

his or her family would live to appreciate the uniqueness of humanity. These 

can happen under some applied conditions. First, if a child is well taken care 

of; this is when a child is well fed, clothed and housed (provided with shelter). 

Second is if a child is given proper education and provided with good health 

facilities. Finally, if a child is backed up, or equipped with sound moral 

training or principles to understand that all human beings are tired together 

irrespective of one's place of birth, race, gender, religious affiliation, ethnicity 

and tribe.  

 

There are some basic social security tips every child is expected to learn from 

his or her family even if those things were not formally taught but should be 

learned from imitating their parents. Such things like sense of unity among the 

family members, dialogue, and peaceful settlement in matters of usual dispute 

between the parents. A fighting family is catastrophe to the society, and 

children from this type of family are also threats to a peaceful society. If care 

is not taken, they may become tools for insecurity, especially in the hands of 

dreadful politicians and power mongers. In Nigeria, insecurity manifests in 

different forms like politically motivated insecurity, ethno-religious caused 

insecurity, economic-generated insecurity or violence as well as group-

organized insecurity. 

 

Contrary to responsible parenthood is irresponsible parenthood. This has 

caused the world and Nigeria a lot. About seventy percent of the world 

population are poor, and mostly from the developing countries of the world. 

Many families are poor and hungry; as a result, cannot take care of their 

children’s aspiration or provide other basic necessities for family health and 

development.  

 

Today, especially in Nigeria, many children are roaming the streets without 

anybody caring for them. Even the government could not provide assistance 

to some of them. For example, in the Northern Nigeria, the so-called 



EVAIA: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ETHICS AND VALUES Volume 1, NO. 1,  July, 2020 

 

Matthew Ike Obijekwu, Adeline N. Okeke, Augustina U. Okafor                                                                                Page 77 
 

almajiris are said to be the abandoned children or those children that lack 

parental care. Since they have no one to care for them, even the government 

does not accept them by providing their basic needs like education, food, 

shelter and clothing which the United Nations Organization (UNO) considers 

the basic needs of every human being; they took to the street and become 

violent just to provide for themselves. This is the reason the Boko Haram 

initiated insecurity is considered the greatest challenge facing Nigeria today. 

Though, security, not only in Nigeria, but across the globe, has become a 

challenge.  

 

Children (be it males or females, boys or girls) are everywhere considered the 

most vulnerable members of the society. They can be easily manipulated 

through indoctrination and other incentives. They can be easily lured to 

commit one crime or the other. This is the mechanism of the so-called Boko 

Haram. This method was used by Mohammed Yusuf when he gathered some 

youths and little children and taught them to reject Western education. He 

argues that Western education or "boko" had brought them nothing but 

poverty and suffering to the region and was therefore for forbidden, or 

"haram" in Islam (2012). Boko Haram simply means Western education 

forbidden".  A person in his or her right sense, or who is well brought up by a 

responsible parent hardly accept such a doctrine haven seen or experienced 

some better side of Western education in Africa, and Nigeria in particular. 

This is how some of the kidnapped Chibok girls and the ….girls are 

indoctrinated and often used by their abductors, Boko Haram members to 

perpetrate crimes, and be working as suicide bombers. So this paper contends 

that children should be taught the basic values by the parents so that even 

when they found themselves in the hands of the men and women of 

underworld, they can still project the basic values learnt from their families, or 

from their responsible parents.    

 

Responsible Parenthood and Political Stability 
Another factor to consider here is the responsible parenthood and political 

stability. One may wonder the nexus between responsible parenthood and 

political stability. Every human person is a political animal said Aristotle. 

These basic political values parents are expected to teach their children. 

Suffice to say that political education is very important in the present day 

society, especially in the present day Nigeria.  Almost all the political thugs, if 

not all, employed by the politicians to commit their nefarious activities, are 

the product of families. They are people’s children. Political stability, as used 

here, means absence of political conflict and violence in political society. 

Then, there is a peaceful election, good governance, respect of human dignity 

and rights, etc. All these factors are obtainable in a society where there is 

political stability.  

 



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Matthew Ike Obijekwu, Adeline N. Okeke, Augustina U. Okafor                                                                                Page 78 
 

We therefore argue that children should be abreast with the basic information 

about workings of the society. They have right to information which among 

them is political information. They should be informed of the basic laws, rules 

and regulation of the society. They should also be educated on the 

fundamental human rights which are known as the Universal Declaration of 

Human Rights of 1948 by the United Nations (UN). These basic rights are 

also enshrined in the Chapter five, section 33-45 of the 1999 Constitution of 

the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). United Nations cited in 

Obijekwu (2020) has the following rights as the basic rights for every human 

person irrespective of one’s religion, race, gender, age, tribal affiliation, etc. 

The Rights included: the right of life, right to dignity of human person, right 

to freedom, right to personal liberty, right to fair hearing, right to private life 

and family life, right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, right to 

expression, press and opinion, right to peaceful assembly and association, 

right to freedom of movement, right to acquire and own immovable property, 

right to education, right to vote and be voted for in any election. These rights 

are attached to every human being due to his inherent nature and ontological 

origin, and as well inalienable rights (Obijekwu, 2020),  

 

Conclusion 
In this paper, we set out to discuss the necessity of the responsible parenthood 

in the world peace, social security and political stability. In fact, responsible 

parenthood is considered in the world as a paradigm shift in maintaining 

social security, political stability and peaceful co-existence in the world and 

Nigeria in particular. In doing this, the concept of responsible parenthood is 

discussed. The development or emergence of the notion of responsible 

parenthood is as well traced which was discovered to have a Christian 

background as it originated from the Catholic and Protestant doctrines of 

procreation and population control. Above all, we conclude that the 

importance of responsible parenthood can never be overestimated in 

promotion of peace, social security and political stability if parents should be 

committed in their primary responsibilities; and if parents/families should 

provide the necessary care, education, and make the basic needs available to 

their children; and at the same time make them understand that humanity is 

one irrespective of one’s origin, race, religion, gender, classes, tribe and other 

factors that have continued to divide the world, be it economic factors, 

political factors, cultural and social factors.     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



EVAIA: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ETHICS AND VALUES Volume 1, NO. 1,  July, 2020 

 

Matthew Ike Obijekwu, Adeline N. Okeke, Augustina U. Okafor                                                                                Page 79 
 

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