The National Council for Art and Culture (NCAC) has stressed the need to uphold African culture as a way out of the increasing cases of rape and sexual violence in the country.

Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, NCAC Director-General, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in commemoration of the 2020 Day of the African Child.

Runsewe urged parents, teachers, and stakeholders in the education sector to ensure that children were properly brought up with adequate knowledge of their culture.

According to him, African culture negates stealing, killing, rape, sexual violence, and other social vices children of today are being exposed to.

He urged parents to pay adequate attention to their children and instill in them African culture which would mold their lives to be responsible citizens.

“A child with adequate knowledge of African culture will know that rape is bad and will desist from such.

”Culture is the solution to all forms of social vices because it teaches the acceptable way of behavior in an African setting.

“The Day of the African Child is a unique day for us as parents, we need to check the attitude to these children, rape is not our culture.

“It is painful that most parents don’t give enough guidance to their children these days; some don’t know where their children are at a point in time, parents should put a stop to this non-challant attitude in raising children,” he said.

Runsewe expressed NCAC’s concern over increased cases of child molestations, adding that the council was working on a document that would focus on proffering solutions to all forms of social vices.

He appealed to the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development to engage the youths in meaningful ventures to curb crime rates and cases of rape.

He added that platforms could be created where youths would interact freely and appreciate one another’s cultural values.

According to reports, the theme for the 2020 Day for the African Child is: “Access to a Child-friendly Justice System in Africa”.

The day was in honor of youths who participated in the 1976 Soweto uprising and also to raise awareness on the continuing need for improvement of the education provided to African children.