Thursday as many other days ended with another Lockdown Special on the Nigerian social media space,  as the timelines from Twitter to Facebook and even Instagram were buzzing with reactions to a viral video where a Zambian was recorded by his wife furiously slapping his son for failing his exam and been absent for his English and Mathematics exam after paying a whooping sum 21,000 USD (81,000,000 naira).

Apparently angry that he only passed Music in the said exams, the man who has now being identified as George Bester, Senior Manager of Operations (Northern Region) at MTN Zambia, hit his son several times lamenting the cost of sending him to school while the mother who apparently recorded the video, could be heard pleading (unseriously) with him to hold back.

There are reports that Mr. George has been summoned by Zambia Police Child Protection Unit over child abuse concerns while his alleged employers, MTN Zambia have distanced themselves from him in a disclaimer stating that he no longer works there. Nigerians have however seized the opportunity to relive childhood memories of similar situations they have experienced in the hands of their parents who could spare nothing at instilling discipline or correcting their children/wards back in the days.

With a sharp division between ‘those for’ seeing it as uniquely ‘African’ and justifiable, if the amount of money in question is thoroughly considered and the camp who sees it as gross abuse and dangerous to a child’s mental health and/or esteem, the debate doesn’t look anywhere ready to end.

 

 

You can read more on the above story and our major stories today using the links below:

$21,000 tuition is no substitute for hands-on parenting; a bitter lesson African parents must learn

$21,000 Palaver featuring Pete Edochie, Interview gone wrong | Funny Tweets we saw from Nigerians today

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A national lock down is finally coming, just as we predicted

Badly hit by the pandemic, ‘Wakanow’s’ Bayo Adedeji reveals way forward for the travel industry

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