Nigeria marked the international Day of Girl-Child on Sunday with the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), Ministry of Women Affairs and some female members of the National Assembly challenging girls to protect their education and strive hard to preserve themselves for a better future.
The women made the call at a girls community outreach programme organised by NCWD, in collaboration with Procter and Gamble in Mabushi, Abuja, to mark the 2020 International Day of the Girl-Child.
The day is annually marked every Oct. 11 to raise awareness on the plights of girls around the world and to fashion out ways to empower them and protect their rights.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “My Voice, Our Equal Future.”
According to Mrs Mary Ekpere-Eta, the Director-General, NCWD, the 2020 celebration is taken to rural areas because rural girls need to be taught and deserve to be encouraged to enrol in schools.
She said “girls in rural areas need to be developed, their rights have to be protected because Gender Based Violence (GBV), especially rape, is prevalent in communities.
“We are here in Mabushi area of Abuja to work with just 100 girls because of the COVID-19 protocol, but when we got here, we discovered that there are more than 5000 girls in the age range of 12 and above and this is very alarming.
“So, I think it is an opportunity for me to bring this community to the fore, to present it to government and other policy makers and development partners to assist the girl child.
“You might be surprised that most people in Abuja do not know that a community like this exist and this is the only way we can project them, assist them to go to school, learn crafts, among others.’’
Ekpere-Eta said she had spoken to some development partners and they promised to assist the girls in the community and expressed the hope for a drastic change in the lives of the girls.
She explained that the girl-child day is a special day set aside by UN to celebrate girls and to evaluate the progress made during the year to look toward their needs, challenges, rights, education and development.
She said that the NCWD came to Mabushi to teach the girls about hygiene, how to take care of themselves in the early ages and how to have sources of income.
She added that the centre, supported by partners — Procter and Gamble, distributed hygiene kits to the girls like toothpaste, toothbrush, sanitisers, disinfectants, sanitary pad, pampers for nursing mothers, among others.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen, urged parents and teachers in the community to protect the girls and also ensure that all them were enrolled into schools.
Tallen urged the girls not to allow anything disrupt their education and cautioned them not to allow boys touch their private parts to prevent cases of rape.
She decried the high prevalence of rape cases in the country and encouraged the girls to pursue their education before getting married.
The Chairperson, House Committee on Women Affairs, Adewunmi Onanuga, reiterated the support of the National Assembly toward supporting girls by enacting quality laws that would impact their lives positively.
Onanuga prayed God to continue to protect girls to grow and be educated, adding that “we are banking on you to be great leaders more than us and even be presidents and so on’’.
Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), urged the girls to always obey their parents, take their studies and hygiene seriously.
She encouraged them not to compromise their education because it was the key to fulfilling their dreams, adding that the SDG office would synergise with legislators to make laws work for girls in Nigeria.
Mr Tanko Yamayoo, Satellite Town Coordinator, FCT, who spoke on behalf of the community, commended the NCWD and other partners for the initiative, adding that girls had been equipped to face the future.