Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, on Wednesday, told parents, guardians and teachers not to relent in teaching children moral values and principles that would help shape their future for a better society.

Okowa, who spoke in Asaba at the maiden edition of an event, entitled ‘Time Out With Role Model,’ organised by the state Orientation Bureau for young people, focusing on public and private school children, urged children to emulate people with responsible behavioural attitude as mentors for a purposeful life.

Okowa, represented by the Commissioner for Youth, Mr. Ifeanyi Egwuyanga, insisted that as future leaders youths needed to be taught good morals.

In his keynote address, the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, charged the participants to make a genuine difference in life, through their behavioural pattern in core moral values by shunning vices that could make them wayward in life.

Earlier, the organiser and Director-General of the State Orientation Bureau, Mr. Eugene Uzum, said: “In line with Governor Okowa’s ‘Stronger Delta Agenda,’ we have understudied the attitudinal complexities and the mindset of our youths, hence we deem it necessary to create this platform to properly guide the younger generation in the area of mental infrastructure, mindset and value orientation, role modeling and value appreciation in the actualisation and sustenance of the stronger Delta dream and self-emancipation.

“We believe with the rise in moral decadence, societal vices and loss of core values to trends, especially in an era when disorientation of young people has led to increasing menace of internet fraud, ritual killings, illegal migration and human trafficking among others, the need for role modelling cannot be overemphasised."

“Time Out With Role Model’, is a platform where societal role models are invited to interact with young persons, heart to heart to exchange values and reveal life principles that will help shape their mentality, vision, belief system and creating the needed mental structure for sustainable development.”

Uzum thanked Governor Ifeanyi Okowa for “accepting to be our principal role model, and the Managing Director of Conoil Producing Limited, Mr. Michael Madoghwe for appearing as a role model for this maiden edition.”