Stakeholders urge NASS to reject bills against life, family values
Citing the sacredness and uniqueness of the family as the basic unit of the society, stakeholders in the health, education and religious profession within and outside the country, have called on the nation’s lawmakers to reject bills and policies that undermine the sanctity and dignity of human life and family values.
The stakeholders made the call at the just concluded African Regional World Congress of Families in Lagos yesterday, organised by Foundation for African Cultural Heritage (FACH) to deliberate on ways of saving the family and the society from immoral practices and abuse through anti-life and anti-family legislations.
The combined body therefore urged the leadership of the National Assembly to throw away all anti-life bills like those that promote abortion, gay marriage and to be careful also, about the kind of international treaties and conventions they ratify and domesticate for the country.
This, according to them, is crucial in order not to debase the sanctity of marriage institution as a union between a man and a woman, family values and the right to life of every human being including the life of an unborn baby.
It was revealed that some of the international treaties and conventions such as the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Maputo Protocol may appear good on the surface, but are filled with lies and conspiracy underneath.
The Maputo Protocol which dwelt on women’s rights is a treaty instrument that is binding on all countries that ratify it. It went into effect in November 2005, after the minimum 15 of the 53 African Union member countries including Nigeria ratified it.
In her presentation on CEDAW and the Maputo Protocol, a public health physician, Dr. Regina Akosa, said the country should resist call and pressure from any group calling for the domestication of CEDAW and the Maputo Protocol because that would amount to legalising abortion in Nigeria.
Asoka said: “CEDAW is against life via Article 12, 16. These are used to fight against family. Maputo Protocol approves abortion on demand. It has good provision but all is not well with it. Article 16, 12 is against life and is all about conspiracy by the West to depopulate Africa.”
Allowing such laws in Nigeria,, she says, will contravene the constitution and therefore, called on the lawmakers to say no to their domestication.
“To domesticate CEDAW and the Maputo Protocol in Nigeria is to legalizes abortion”, Akosa warned.
The Catholic Arch Bishop of Ibadan Diocese, Bishop Gabriel Abegunrin, in his contribution, said the problem of individualism in the family must be checked
“We must promote values that protect marriage and family in this 21st century and the dignity of the human person must be protected because it is representing the image of God. The protection of the dignity of the human person will stop practices like abortion. Marriage and family promote human dignity. Marriage is a sacred bond, and when marriage is contracted, the couple begins a new family”, he said.
For the President, World Congress of Families and Co-Sponsor of the African Regional Congress in Lagos, Brian Brown, all hands must be on deck to put an end to all that is undermining the family and marriage institution, while appealing to participants at the congress to always stand for the truth and what they believe in.
According to Brown, the truth is that human dignity is worth standing for and that the family being a basic unit of the society must at all times be respected and protected.
He stated further: “Stand up for what you know is the truth about family. Don’t accept any new form of culture that tries to change a man to a woman, and a woman to man. We must all rise and condemn the culture of imperialism. We must remain optimistic to be able to change the world together.”
In her remarks, President of FACH, Dr. Theresa Okafor, said it was not enough to lament about the things that seek to undermine the family and the sanctity of human life, but the ability of all stakeholders concerned to proactively confront the challenges despite all odds.
“If we allow ourselves to be carried away by ‘the tail wags the dog morality’ where personal taste, self interest, self obsession and self absorption and the pleasure principle are rationalised and if we fail to think about the consequences that our actions could have, we will only have ourselves to blame”, she said.
To further check the high level of immoral practices in the society today, Okafor called for the review of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education currently in the school curriculum.
