Passing the West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE) — now SSS-3 terminal examination for secondary school, back then “All-mighty WAEC” — is a big deal. It’s the first major academic landmark that puts a teen on track for tertiary education. So, celebrating this landmark is totally understandable.
Yet, to celebrate to the extent of putting your life at risk? That was the unforced tragedy at the Elegushi Beach in Lagos, where four teens, swimming to toast their success at their examinations, got drowned in the Atlantic Ocean. But for the alertness of the beach guards, more boys could have drowned.
According to news reports, a brood of boys having learnt of their success, headed for Elegushi Beach, a private beach on Victoria Island, Lagos, for a celebratory dip. But that itself needed not have turned fatal, had the boys heeded the warning of the coast guards.
The guards had warned the boys to steer clear of a certain section of the beach. Yet, to that perilous section the boys made a detour to enjoy their splash. By the time the alarm blew, however, 10 of them were on the cusp of drowning. The beach guards saved six. The remaining four are yet to be accounted for — and so are presumed drowned.
This was a totally avoidable tragedy. While giddy youths would shun wise counsel and embark on a fatal swim beggars belief. Success could be racy and giddy. But with a bit of caution, it need not turn fatal. Again, those drownings could have been avoided. It’s the flip — and fatal — side of youthful exuberance.
Benjamin Hundeyin, superintendent of police and spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, captured it all in a Twitter post: “Four teenagers drowned at a Lagos beach today, after collecting their exam results in school. Take heed!” He tweeted. “I’ve talked about drowning in relation to water travel and swimming pools. Still, parents/guardians, have a heart-to-heart talk with your teenagers to avoid losing.”
That’s a golden advice — and it’s spot on! Everything starts from the home, all in the spirit of that good, old axiom: prevention is better than cure.
The teen age is the age of questioning, age of curiosity, age of boundless energy, age of heavy peer pressure and ultimately age of rebellion. As puberty is signifying rapid, chemical changes in the body, peer pressure condemns many a teen to comparing social notes.
At that juncture many still get it right. But a good many more get it utterly wrong — and such mistakes could end in life-time regrets; or a blunder that takes years and years after to correct: if it wasn’t fatal, as the Elegushi Beach drownings.
So, the primary recourse, to avert such uncalled-for tragedies, is still the home. With peer pressure leading many a teen astray, the home should be a bastion of sound counselling and refuge of emotional stability. But in a rather sad twist of economic pressure, many parents/guardians have little or no time for such critical parental chores. That double jeopardy seems to incubate many needless tragedies.
Which calls to question the rationale of boys heading to beach for a celebratory swim, knowing full well the hazards and risks involved. But if that could even be adduced to teen exuberance, how would one explain the deafness and blindness to legitimate caution, to the extent that the doomed four took a detour to avoidable death, despite warnings by the beach authorities?
This avoidable tragedy again points to the imperative of that core parental care — and for self-serving reasons too. Just imagine the situation of the parents of those boys that drowned. Their parents had done everything to support them. The boys too had done their own part and passed their examinations. Yet, at the cusp of earned glory, they died pre-mature death! With more parental guidance and direction, such rash actions could have been avoided.
Outside parental care, youths themselves should form positive support groups, that reinforce good and decent deeds among their ranks. Incidentally, such groups too issue from peer pressure, except that it is positive, not negative peer pressure. More and more of such could act as some counter-balance to youth negative traits like drugs, cultism and even rash experiments, as the tragic swim.
Beach authorities too should be stricter and less liberal in ensuring that patronising youths conform to rules. For instance, a little bit of “nastiness” could have averted that tragedy. Better get nasty to impose common sense than stay sweet and nice, yet lose promising lives.
We condole and commiserate with the parents whose boys drowned in this unfortunate incident. But let this be a turning point, such that such a tragedy never happens again.
