The wife of Nigerian President, Aisha Muhammadu Buhari has assured of her preparedness to publicly advocate for legislation against child marriage, even as she maintained that, no single Nigerian girl would be left behind in her campaign to get girls into school.
Earlier, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) in conjunction with other partners, such as the Federal Ministry of Education had divulged that, they focused their activities on the transforming power of education to empower adolescent girls to overcome all challenges that affect their lives and inhibit their prospects of advancement.
The wife of the president, who spoke when a delegation of 50 adolescent girls paid her an advocacy visit to mark the end of 2015 International Day of the Girl Child, also urged parents to give their girl child the opportunity of acquiring education.
According to the United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF), the 2015 International Day of the Girl Child which has “The Power Of The Adolescent Girl: Vision 2030” as its theme, ended with an investiture of the president’s wife, Aisha Muhammadu Buhari as Grand Patron, High Level Women Advocates for Girl Child Education in Nigeria.
UNICEF and other partners including the Federal Ministry of Education focused their activities on the transforming power of education to empower adolescent girls to overcome all challenges that affect their lives and inhibit their prospects of advancement.
“Activities commemorating this year’s International Day of the Girl Child ended today(yesterday) with the investiture of Mrs. Aisha Buhari the wife of the Nigerian President as the Grand Patron, High Level Women Advocates for Girls Education in Nigeria during an advocacy visit of 50 adolescent girls to her”.
“The wife of the President at the interactive session with the girls promised to advocate publicly for legislation against child marriage. She encouraged parents to keep their daughters in school for at least 12 years. “No single girl will be left behind in my movement to get every girl into school,’ Aisha Buhari promised.
Narrating the need for collaborative effort on the Girl Child education in Nigeria, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Jean Gough submitted that, the 2013 National Demographic Health Survey indicate that there are about 20 million adolescent girls in Nigeria and there is very low education rates among them especially those within the lowest income rates of the society.
“In Nigeria 60% of the 10.5million, children out of school are girls. Data indicate that among other factors one reason for low enrollment and retention of girls in schools especially in the north is the lack of female teachers in the rural areas”
As a measure towards finding a lasting solution to this menace, UNICEF with funding from the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) and counterpart funding from five participating States started the Girls’ Education Project. The Girls’ Education Project Phase 3(GEP3) aims to achieve one million enrollments of girls into school by the end of the year 2020.
No comments:
Post a Comment