IDGC: NCWS holds interactive session with school girl in Owerri


As part of its SLOC-VAWG Project the National Council for Women Societies (NCWS), Imo state chapter, has organised an interactive session with secondary school girls in Owerri to mark this year’s International Day of the Girl Child (IDGC).
Speaking during the interaction at Bishop Lasbrey Girls Secondary School, Irete, Owerri, the NCWS Project Manager, Onyekachi Chikere, said the day was an annual adherence on October 11 that empowers girls, hearing their voices; responding to their asks; and welcoming them in decision-making spaces.
She said it was one of the ways to invest in a future that believes in girls’ agency by building the agency of girls to demand an end to Violence against women and girls.
Speaking on the theme for the 2022 celebration: “Our Time Is Now – Our Rights, Our Future,” Mrs Chikere, who is an old girl of the school, noted that, “Concurrently, this day is nominated to eliminate gender based challenges that girls face around the world including discrimination, violence, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), early marriages, sexual harrasement, and other harmful traditional practices.”
According to her, “I am at my Alma Mater, Bishop Lasbrey Girls Secondary School, Irete, to celebrate with our quintessential daughters. We will engage in discussions as well as question and answer session on how to strengthen leadership and capacity of adolescent girls and ensure girls participation in the polity.
“In a recent study conducted by Actionaid Nigeria,one of our partners, Imo state was flagged as one of the states with very high prevalence of gender based violence. We must renew our commitment to working together so that girls enjoy and exercise their rights and play full and equal part in their communities and societies.
“Investing in girls is investing in our common future. This day is indeed the celebration of human rights of girls across the world.”
Highpoint of the day was the presentation of an illustration handbook for the Pacesetters Club for young girls and a training manual as a guide for their meetings, which the project manager said would be on monthly basis, just as progress reports would be made to the council on monthly basis.