Group Advocates Stronger Investment For Boy-Child Development

A non-profit organisation, Boy Quarters Africa, has intensified calls for deliberate investment in the African boy-child, saying empowering boys with mentorship, values and leadership skills would help tackle rising social and security challenges across the continent.

Speaking at the Global Boy Child Summit held in Lagos with the theme, “Building Boys Into Wholesale Men,” founder and executive director of the organisation, Solomon Ayodele, said the initiative was aimed at addressing the growing neglect of boys in society and not a movement against women or girls.

According to him, many social, economic and security challenges confronting African societies are linked to the failure to properly engage and mentor young boys and men at an early stage.

“When we talk about the boy-child conversation, a lot of people think we’re trying to raise an anti-feminist movement or create a system where we are fighting women or girls. The criticality of the conversation, however, is that many social, economic and security problems hinge on engaging young men,” Ayodele said.

He stressed that sustained investment in boys would significantly alter the social dynamics within communities and nations, adding that the organisation had continued to champion the cause for the past six years.

“If we invest time in boys, it will change the dynamics of everything. That is why it is so vital for the nation and the continent to consistently engage boys. Boy Quarters Africa has done this work for six years and believes the conversation must continue,” he stated

Ayodele disclosed that the initiative had expanded beyond Nigeria to other African countries, noting that the movement was gaining momentum because insufficient support systems existed for boys across the continent.

“The movement is growing from Lagos to Kigali and beyond, not because boys are inherently bad, but because too little is being invested in them,” he added.

He further revealed that the organisation recently engaged about 1,000 boys at one of its programmes, including nearly 300 students drawn from institutions such as Lagos State University and University of Lagos, while also running intervention programmes targeted at vulnerable youths and boys in correctional centres.

“Our approach is holistic. We are not only focusing on secondary school students; we are addressing the entire event of the boy-child life cycle,” Ayodele said.

He added that the group’s mentorship platform, MyGuy.me, currently connects younger boys with older male mentors for guidance on sexuality, career development and life decision.

The founder also called on policymakers to strengthen institutional support for boys and men through the implementation of laws protecting them from violence, warning that many states across the country still lacked adequate legal protections for male victims.

المصدر: Leadership (Nigeria)