By CHIEDU UCHE OKOYE

Children are like yam tendrils that need sticks on which to twine. In other words, they need grooming. That is why this biblical quote is apt, as to giving children good parental upbringing: teach a child the way he should follow, and when he grows up, he will not depart from it”.

To make impressionable children fall in love with books, the Emeka and Bunmi Anyaoku Foundation Centre, which houses a museum and a library, hosted children’s Christmas party on December 18, 2025. The Anyaoku Centre, which was thrown open for public use, barely two years ago, was established, among other things, to rekindle children’s waning interest in education. Another reason for the establishment of the Anyaoku Centre is to memorialize Chief Emeka Anyaoku’s remarkable life’s journey, especially his sterling career as an international diplomat. That Chief Emeka Anyaoku’s life story inspires people is an incontestable fact.

In its nearly two years of existence, the Anyaoku centre has continued to serve the purpose for which it was established: hosting educational programmes to rekindle and sustain our youths’ interest in education. It has, also, been providing a conducive environment where different categories of students can engage in private studies, away from the prying eyes of people and distracting ruckus.

Again, school children go for educational pilgrimages at the Emeka and Bunmi Anyaoku Foundation Centre to learn about diverse things in the world as it houses both a library and a museum.

Not unexpectedly, the Emeka and Bunmi Anyaoku Foundation Centre hosted its second children’s Christmas party on December 18, 2025. The Christmas party, which took place on the premises of the Anyaoku Centre, attracted hundreds of school children from schools in the Obosi metropolis, the place where the Emeka and Bunmi Anyaoku Foundation Centre is located. The schools, which the pupils and students represented, included, but not limited to these schools, Maria Ines Nursery and Primary School, Obosi, Union Secondary School, Obosi, Christ Army Secondary School, Obosi and other schools.

In her speech at the event, the fetching Director of the Anyaoku Centre, Mrs. Oluchi Nguzoro-Nnoli, stated that throwing a Christmas party for the school children is harmonious with the reasons for establishing the Emeka and Bunmi Anyaoku Foundation Centre.

“We are throwing this party for the children because we love them. And we want them to become useful citizens of Nigeria in the future.

“They can become distinguished people and useful citizens of Nigeria by studying to become lawyers, doctors, engineers, architects, teachers, and others.

“And they can realize their goals by visiting the library to study books. So we are telling the children that a library is a home.

“And we chose to host the party at the Emeka and Bunmi Anyaoku Foundation Centre because we want the children to become accustomed to using libraries,” Nguzoro-Nnoli said.

Speaking further, Mrs. Nguzoro-Nnoli expressed appreciation to the alumni of the Merchants of Light School, Oba, Anambra state for making huge financial contributions to the Anyaoku Centre for the purpose of hosting the 2025 Children’s Christmas Party. It should not be forgotten that the founder of the Emeka and Bunmi Anyaoku Foundation Centre, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, attended Merchants of Light School.

More so, one of the special guests at the event, Ogbueshi Mbidebe Ogalanya Enweluzor, an Obosi-born nonagerian, counselled the children to take their education, seriously, as it is the path that would lead to their becoming distinguished people in the future.

He lamented that the get-rich quick syndrome had eroded the moral fabric and foundation of our society, which causes the young people to have a dislike for the acquisition of education.

“An educated person can rise to a great height in his or her area of specialization, and contribute to our country’s development.

“So I am urging you to study hard in order that you can become great people in future.

“But it is saddening that the prevalent societal get-rich-quick syndrome has eroded our country’s moral fabric, causing our youths to shun the acquisition of knowledge,” Ogbueshi Enweluzor lamented.

Other important dignitaries and stakeholders in the education sector, who attended the event, were Mrs. Ngozi Akabogu, a guidance counsellor at the Union Secondary School, Obosi; and Mrs. Roseline Onyegiri, a teacher at the Union Secondary School, Obosi.

Dressed in gaudy red clothes, and hilarious with joy, the boisterous school children received sundry gifts from Father Christmas after they had eaten food to their fill. Earlier, children dance groups had thrilled the people with their dexterous displays.

The Idea behind hosting the children’s Christmas party at the Anyaoku Centre was not lost on the children as they were taught the benefits they would enjoy by acquiring formal education. They were also encouraged to imbibe the habit of visiting libraries.

The Emeka and Bunmi Anyaoku Foundation Centre is, no doubt, living up to the ideals and visions, which birthed it. It has become a centre, which fosters children’s embrace of and love for education. And it has not failed to organize social activities for the school children in Obosi in order that they would grow up to become sociable, educated, and well-adjusted people in the future

The Emeka and Bunmi Anyaoku Foundation Centre, which is eponymous of Chief Emeka Anyaoka, a former secretary general of the Commonwealth of Nations, has become the stamping ground for school kids, who set store with education.

•Chiedu Uche Okoye, a poet, writes from Uruowulu-Obosi, Anambra State. He can be reached via 08062220654 and 09125204141