Radio IITA joined the global community in celebrating this year’s Children’s Day event. The day was established in 1954 as Universal Children’s Day and has been celebrated on different dates in several countries since then. In Nigeria, it is marked on 27 May and observed as a public holiday for children.
The Maiden Radio IITA Annual Children’s Day program with the theme ‘Sustainable future: Youths leading the way’ provided a unique opportunity for students from invited schools to understand and appreciate the interconnectedness of climate change, smart agriculture, biodiversity, and conservation, health and nutrition, plant health, food systems, and security while inspiring them to take action for a sustainable and thriving future.
In her opening remarks, Kathrine Lopez, Head of IITA Communication, welcomed the students and highlighted that IITA-CGIAR’s mission, over the years, continues to generate agricultural innovations to meet Africa’s most pressing challenges of hunger and malnutrition while improving livelihoods. She affirmed that the Radio IITA Annual Children’s Day program is one such platform to share Knowledge generated from IITA’s research, change the mindset of children about agriculture and environmental sustainability, and inspire them to be better leaders in the future.
Welcoming children from the schools, Dajie Odok, Radio IITA Lead, said that through the Radio IITA Annual Children’s Day program, students will learn about climate change, climate-smart agriculture, protecting nature, plant health, food safety, and nutrition to make the world a better place.
IITA Talent Management and Engagement Manager Lade Oke spoke with the children about how embracing and fostering an environment of diversity and inclusion among children is crucial for their development and building a harmonious and progressive society.
The need to eat a balanced diet (colorful plate), which is vital for children’s overall health and development, was an exciting takeaway lesson for the children after Bussie Maziya Dixon, IITA Food and Nutrition Scientist, took her turn to speak on a balanced diet.
The children learned of different ways to conserve biodiversity, such as promoting native planting, judicious use of all resources, reducing, reusing, and recycling after Ajayi Ademola from IITA Forest Center explained that taking care of Mother Nature and biodiversity is essential for the well-being of planet earth.
Food safety is everyone’s business, according to Titi Falade of IITA Plant Pathology/Mycotoxin/Aflasafe unit. During her session, the children learned about the importance of food safety as it helps avoid harmful things like aflatoxin.
Five schools from Oyo State, Nigeria—Amao International Primary School, Hill Crest Elementary School, God’s Divine Model School, Crescent Model School, and Imperial International School—participated in the Radio IITA Annual Children’s Day program which featured a debate, quiz, essay writing, poem, and riddles all centered on climate change, smart agriculture, biodiversity, nutrition, and food systems.
Contributed by ’Bamise Dada
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