Nigeria is becoming an increasingly fatherless society. Years ago a Nigerian child is expected to grow up with his/her father. Today the reverse is the case. Fatherlessness is now strongly contending with fatherhood to determine the features of the Nigerian child. Today as I write to you, about 40% of Nigerian children will go to bed in home in which their fathers do not live with them.
Before the age of 18 years, more than half of our nation's children are likely to spend their childhood living apart from their fathers. So many children now lives voluntarily abadoned by their fathers and so many grow up without knowing what it means to have a father. Fatherless is the most harmful demographic trend of this generation. If the trend continues, fatherlessness will change the shape of our society.
Kids needs fathers just as they need mothers. They need their fathers as role models as they need their mothers for strength. A father's love is different from a mother's love, and the child needs both in the same way that our bodies needs both food and water for a balance growth.