Women seek parity on education

ENE OSANG reports that Nigerian girls made demands on their rights to equal opportunities at the just concluded 2017 Women and Girls Summit organized by the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD) in Abuja.

Amidst increasing advocacy on the need for more opportunities for the Nigerian girl child to enable them attain their full potential, the discrimination against girls continue to grow.

A demand for an improvement on the poor status of the girl child through government policies formed the core of the discussion at the 2017 women and girls summit with the theme “The Power of the Adolescent Girl : Vision 2030.

Rrepresenting the Nigerian girl-child; President of the 2017 International Day of the Girl (IDG) Miss Tabitha Emmanuel, emphasized the need for adequate investment in the education of girls.
Miss Emmanuel a 16 year old indegen of Gwoza LGA, and a Senior Secondary (SS) 3 student of Yelwa Girls International School Maiduguri, said for society to work well girls must be educated as this will make them better models of the future.

She lamented the current status of the average northern girl-child, noting that they are faced with the challenge of insecurity, poverty and early marriage which prevents them from pursuing any educational career.
“Not many of us understand the current situation of the girl-child in Maiduguri within the context of the insurgency; we have lost our parents and we understand the pangs of poverty without education.

“Government should put in place mechanisms for implementation of free education for all children and provide school items, including a conducive environment for learning.

“We want government to enact law that stops early marriage and withdrawal of girls from school, also it should provide adequate security in school especially in rural areas
It was on this note that the girls reiterated their demands on the federal government, just as they express hope for true and speedy implementation.

“If girls are educated they would be better women and mothers and become models.
“We demand for the involvement of women in governance because they will pave better ways for girls in education, security, the economy, amongst others,” she said.

She appealed to parents to invest more on girl-child education, just as she called for support from men and boys if this must be achieved.

She also called on the National Union of Teachers (NUT) to to stipulate adequate sanctions for teachers who sexually harass school girls, recommending the employment and deployment of more female teachers especially to the rural areas.

Her major demands included the call for Men and Boys to support and promote girls education through sensitization and awareness creation, fathers to invest more in girls education, Government to put in place mechanisms for the implementation of the “free and compulsory” education for the girl child as well as the provision of incentives like free uniforms,books,sandals and school meals as well as, to enact and implement a law against early marriage and withdrawal of girls from school for the purpose of marriage.

Wife of the President Hajiya Aisha Buhari who was represented by the wife of the vice president Mrs. Dolapo Osibanjo, noted that entrepreneurship plays an important role in economic empowerment of the perceived disadvantage segment of the population of which women and girls form a larger part in the Nigerian context.

She emphasized the need for additional hands in the campaign towards inclusive governance and against gender-based violence in the country. Calling on stakeholders to come up with strategies and programmes to propel the notion of the girl child in the country.

DG of NCWD said this year’s celebration tagged “the Power of the Adolescent Girl:Vision for 2030”, resonates the available global statistics that there are about 600 million girls aged 10 to 19 in the world today, with each possessing limitless individual potential.”

According to her, the summit was expected to draw attention of policy makers to the critical issues affecting women and girls, for high level discourse and strategic intervention.

In her goodwill message, the Director General (DG) National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Mrs. Roli Bode-George, advocated for policies that protects the girl from early marriage, drugs and unnecessary exposure, saying the lives of girls has been endangered for long.
Meanwhile UNICEF representative had disclosed that there is disparity in the access to the achievement of quality education for boys and girls.

According to her more northern children are out of school when compared to other regions of the country, urging parents to make girl child education a priority.
Also, the Principal Investigator, Perfomamce Monitoring and Accountability 2020, Dr. Elizabeth Omoluabi, stressed the need for adolescent girls to have credible education.
Quoting Barrack Obama she said, ” the best judge of whether or not a country is going to develop is how it treats it’s women and girls.

 

 

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