Over 10.5 million children are currently out of school in Nigeria, and 60 per cent of them are girls, says a Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS).
The survey also indicated that the number of girls who marry before the age of 15 in the country has risen to 25 per cent from the previous 13 per cent in 2007.
This disclosure was made at an event to mark this year’s “Day of the African Child”, an annual event organized by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to draw attention to the plight of African children.
Speaking on the theme: “25 Years After the Adoption of the African Children’s Charter: Accelerating Our Collective Efforts to End Child Marriage” at Abonnema, Akuku- Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, the General Manager of Rivers State Broadcasting Corporation, Medline Tador, urged parents to wake up to their responsibilities by providing the basic needs of the girl child.