Be a model to your children, Jonathan tells fathers

President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday told Nigerian fathers to live exemplary lives in order to give practical examples to their children.

The President spoke at a special service to mark the 2011 Fathers’ Day celebration by the Aso Villa Chapel in the Presidential Villa.

Jonathan noted that unless fathers lived by example, the society would continue to be bedeviled by vices.

He therefore urged fathers to do the right thing, even in the face of challenges.

He said, “For today, we call on our fathers to try and live by example and always do things which are right, so that their children will follow suit.

“We also call on all Nigerians to also pray that even though we are sinners, just like the case of Samson, God will forgive us; for those of us who are in sin, we pray that God should see us through.

“I call on all of us who are fathers to be good fathers.

“Just like many in the biblical days, we will use today to re-assess our own ways of doing things as fathers and charge ourselves to try to be blameless despite the fact that we are living in a society where we are faced with challenges.”

In a sermon at the service, Rev. Israel Akanji expressed concerns that most fathers imposed their decisions on their children, a situation which he said had made the society unsafe.

Using the Biblical story of the prodigal son as an example, he said, “For this mistake to be corrected in the society, fathers need to convince their children rather than impose decisions on the children.

“A righteous and godly father is needed by our mothers, our children, our churches, our community, the nation as well as the world at large.”

Jonathan was honoured at the event alongside his mother, Mama Eunice Jonathan; the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu; Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State; wife of the Chaplain, Aso Villa Chapel, Mrs. Martha Owozurumba, as well as all men who attended the programme who were over 70 years.