The Deputy Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu has advocated for the protection of the girl child across Nigeria.
He made the call while receiving leaders of the Students Vanguard for Girl Child Education in Nigeria, in his office.
He said that it was a disservice to any nation not to have its young ones educated irrespective of gender.
“It is even more difficult to go educate one gender and Levi the other one uneducated. It is essentially through it that we can improve social economic outcomes in our country. However, in Nigeria, gender inequality in education remains a major concern and the challenges are stalk,” Kalu said.
He said that many people are not aware of what many indigent girls go through and commented on the organization for taking up that challenge to speak for the girl child.
He however pointed out that the issue of out-of-school girls is not only in northern Nigeria, he also condemned the renewed abduction of school girls, Saying that most girls are now afraid to go to school for fear of being abducted.
“It’s not only happening in the north but in the south and other parts of the country. But it ought not to be so. We need to take steps towards reducing the percentage. To have sixty per cent of all out-of-school children out of the fourteen million out-of-school children being girls is a lot of numbers that calls for great concern,” he said.
He said that very soon the percentage is going to reduce as the government was making efforts towards reducing the number.
He also noted that the National Assembly would join its voice to the organization’s voice to make it louder.
Adding that the National Assembly would use its instruments to address the issue as “girls are the mothers of tomorrow.”
Earlier, the President of the Female Students Vanguard for Girl Child Education in Nigeria, Khadija Sulaiman Godado, told the Deputy that the challenges facing the girl child in Nigeria were numerous.
She said that the primary duty of the organization was the education of the girl child.
Ms Gidado pointed out that in Nigeria, education was seen as a privilege to the girl child as the power of education is tilted to men.
“It is now made to be believed that education is a privilege to women because not all of them have access to it. Some people in Nigeria see education as a commodity. Forty percent of girls ages 9-12 in northern Nigeria for a start have never been to school. One in three women and girls experience physical and sexual violence in their lifetime. Over nine point five Nigerian girls are not in school. Worldwide, almost seven hundred and fifty million women and girls alive today were married before their eighteenth birthday. One in two women killed worldwide was killed by their partners or hubby in 2027. 71% of all human trafficking worldwide are women and girls. Violence against women is a serious cause of death and incapacity among women of reproductive age as cancer,” Ms Gidado said.
She also said that the sanitary conditions of young girls need to be supported as most girls can not afford to buy sanitary products.
“Among our upcoming projects, one to focus on at the moment is ” Pad up the girl child,” she said.
She used the opportunity to decorate the Deputy Speaker with the ” Icon of exemplary Leadership of the Female Students Vanguard and described him as ” A Matchless Icon”
The President also appealed for support to meet their needs and execute their projects.
