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Sen. Eze Ajoku, President Coalition of Societies for the Rights of Older Persons in Nigeria (COSROPIN), has advocated orientation of youths on the difference between love and lust.
Ajoku made the call in Abuja on Tuesday during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the commemoration of Valentine’s.
He expressed concerns over the misinterpretation of love to mean lust by youths.
He said such the wrong perception could be as a result of the influence of the media such as Nollywood and African Magic which young people are exposed to.
Ajoku, who reiterated the need for change of orientation about love, saying it was wrong to use sex as a yardstick to measure love.
“You can understand that the actors in Nigeria have continued to show young people the wrong value of love.
“Love is now being interpreted mainly in the context of sex, love is being interpreted as if it is for sex and fun in the YouTube, all you see in African magic is sex, sex.
“So they have made it such that what they are teaching is for people to be unfaithful to their partners because you see so much unfaithfulness in those videos,” he said.
He called on families and religious bodies to rise to the occasion of the advocacy for a total change of orientation about love.
“I don’t know how we can correct it but I think families and churches have a responsibility in this area.
“To begin to paint a right picture of family live, paint the right picture of relationship without sex,’’ he said.
Col. Paul Omeruo (Retired), former military Administrator of Kogi, and member of the coalition, urged families to create the desired change needed to restore the true meaning of love in the society.
“Times have changed, a lot has happened in various aspects of our lives and you cannot blame them when some people mistake love for lust.
“When we were young, we had girlfriends just friends, we meet during holidays, you are not even allowed to touch a girl talk more of hug or hold.
“But what do we have nowadays, a small boy of tender age is speaking about love, what does he know about love? He is only is mistaking love for lust.
“There is a missing link where we did not actually make these children to know the difference and it is affecting them now.
“We have to go back and start with families to correct it,” he said. (NAN)
