By Onwa Ekor
Determined to foster critical thinking while challenging harmful and discriminatory stereotypes, Socialist Library Archives (SOLAR) in partnership with MILID Foundation and support from Open Society Foundations (OSF) recently trained 50 students in Calabar.
The event tagged; 2025/2026 inauguration of Conscientizing Nigerian male Adolescents (CMA) and held at the Old residency museum, drew five students each from 10 participating schools in the metropolis.
With an existing history of over 30 years, churning out over 13,500 young men as graduands, CMA also empowered them with tools of anti-sexism and critical consciousness, to challenge existing norms in the society.
SOLAR administrator, Edwin Madunagu, explained that the monthly event will position the participants to feel the evil, self punishment of prejudices against females while boldly asking questions even when affirmation is made, maintaining also that, “if you grasp something by conviction, you become an apostle of it.”
Coordinator, CMA programme, Dr. Uwe Edeke, remarked that society, government and traditional practices keep women in certain disadvantageous position as they are not expected to take certain roles, a development that is borne out of ignorance, myths and misinformation.
“We teach these adolescent boys to be critically conscious and never have unfavourable opinion against certain things or persons before the fact is brought before them.
“Our society is a sexist society and male dominated, so this dominance is seen in the lives of male adolescents as they engage in violence and drugs in order to show that they are dominating.
“These are vices that are eating deep into the lives of these adolescent boys, we want to arrest them from the beginning before they grow into adults,” Edeke informed.
For SOLAR coordinator, Comrade Chido Onumah, “we believe that by fostering critical thinking, challenging harmful and discriminatory stereotypes and promoting equality, we can empower young men to become agents of positive change, breaking down barriers and building a more just and equitable future for all.”
Onumah who lauded partners, especially OSF, for their continuous support over the years, also charged participants to embrace the challenges, engage with the curriculum and allow their selves to be transformed by the power of critical consciousness.
A participant and student of Government Secondary School, Henshaw Town, Saviour Effanga, applauded the organisers for equipping the attendees with the right knowledge to always ask questions while ensuring that equal opportunities are always granted males and females.
The event which was interactive featured a lecture on “sexism, biology and critical consciousness,” delivered by an old boy of the programme and currently a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics, University of Calabar, Dr Uwe Edeke.
