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Tag: girl-child

  • Zuriel: African Girl Child ambassador

    Zuriel: African Girl Child ambassador

    Penultimate week, she was in Malawi during which she formally launched the second country destination point in her Dream Up, Speak Up, Stand Up program, aimed at inspiring the African Girl Child.

    Her country of origin, Nigeria was the first port of call in March for the take off of the programme.

    Today, as the world marks the International Day for the Girl Child, 11 year old award winning documentary film maker, conference speaker and writer Zuriel Oduwole is guest of the Tanzanian government in continuation of her campaign for the education for the African girl.

    “I am hoping that the parents of girls in Africa will see me as an example, and see that their girls have a lot of potential in life, and can achieve great things in life,” she told The Nation in an interview.

    Zuriel’s accomplishments at her young age make her a true model of what the IDGC is about-giving the girl child to the opportunity to maximize her full potentials.

    Her rise to fame through the creation of documentaries from a school project validates the theme of this year’s IDGC which is Innovating for Girl’s Education.

    “When I was nine, I entered a school competition called, “National History Day.” And I was the youngest student to enter the competition. In that competition, I had to create a presentation, an exhibit, a performance, or a documentary,” she recalls.

    With her mastery of new media, Zuriel who though lives in Califonia with her parents in the United States has become a foremost African ambassador and postal girl of the African Child.

    At ten, Zuriel made history as the youngest person ever to be interviewed in Forbes, the global iconic magazine title.

    To her credit, she has interviewed top personalities worldwide including eight African Presidents, Africa’s richest person, Aliko Dangote and Tennis super stars – Venus and Serena Williams.

    She also recently interviewed America Civil Rights leader, Reverend Jesse Jackson at the Annual Clinton Global Initiative in New York.

    Having proved by her exploits that the African Girl is a bundle of talents waiting to be empowered, Zuriel’s clarion call on African leaders to should be taken more seriously and acted on.

    “I like everyone to know that educating and fighting for the education of the Africa Girl Child, is an investment in Africa,” she says.

    Justifying her work on documentary on promoting positive image of Africa, Zuriel once described herself as “an African Child – a Nigerian Girl Child.”

    She is indeed a true child of Africa which Nigeria and the continent should be proud of and be an inspiration to every Girl Child.

     

  • ‘Churches must help girl-child, women’

    The General Overseer of Disciples of Christ Ministry, Pastor Elizabeth Osa, has called on the church to be promote values that will help in the development and empowerment of the girl- child and womanhood.

    In a chat in her church’s headquarters in Egbeda Lagos, Osa lamented the increasing spate of child marriage, rape and other forms of deprivations facing women.

    She called on churches to support girl-child and women through different empowerment programmes.

    According to her: “When women are empowered, they will transform the world for Christ.

    “Now is the time for every girl-child to have the education and opportunities needed to unleash her potential and the church must help.’’

    She explained that with the roles of women as wives, mothers, companions, prayer warriors and help mates, they remain critical to the survival of the nation.

  • Girl-child tears

    Girl-child tears

    •Thousands of women decide to weep as weapons against underage marriage

    The raging debate on the vexed issue of child marriage is not about to end. From all indications, it appears the womenfolk have sworn to keep the issue on the front burner of public discourse.

    Three thousand Christian women from various church denominations across the South-South and South-East regions have vowed to converge on the Prayer City ground in Calabar, Cross River State, with the sole purpose of crying for 48 hours to protest against child marriage.

    The co-founder of the Prayer to All Nations Ministry (a.k.a Prayer City Calabar), Rev. Ephraim Effiong said : “We are totally against child marriage and to register our protest, about 3,000 women would cry to God for 48 hours to end the evil practice everywhere in the nation.”

    How did the nation drag itself into this quagmire? It all started as a legitimate attempt by the Senate to amend sections of the constitution in July. Ironically, the debate was not about the legal age a person can marry. The debate was on the renunciation of citizenship. The relevant section, Section 1 states that “Any citizen of Nigeria of full age who wishes to renounce his Nigerian citizenship shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation.”

    As a follow-up, Section 4 adds that “for the purpose of subsection (1) of this section, ((a) “full age” means the age of eighteen years and above; (b) any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age.”

    That is the controversial section that is generating heat in the polity. When the Senate, therefore, sought to delete this clause, that is section 29 (4) (b) of the constitution, all hell was let loose.

    Not unexpectedly, the Senator from Zamfara State, Ahmed Yerima, a former Governor of the state, who first shot into national prominence for his introduction of Sharia, the Islamic legal system, was up in arms. The senator, who ruffled not a few feathers when he took as wife a 14 year-old Egyptian girl, frustrated the attempt by his colleagues to delete the “offending” section.

    To compound matters, a combustible combination of religion and tribe was thrown into the debate.

    However, rather than looking at the issue of child marriage from the religious and cultural lenses, it would be helpful for the nation to look at the issue from the perspective of what is good for the child. Although taking children as brides has been justified on account of religion and culture, we dare say the practice is harmful to the socio-economic development of the girl-child.

    The United Nations Child Summit Declaration of 1990 prescribed 18 as the appropriate age of marriage and over 150 governments, including heads of state from 72 countries subscribed to the declaration.

    And back home, the Child Rights Act, 2003, prescribes 18 as the age of marriage and in fact, prescribes a penalty of half a million Naira as fine, or a jail term of five years or both, for a breach of this provision.

    What would make a parent give out a child in marriage, if not ignorance and grinding poverty? With child marriage, poverty is deepened and illiteracy is guaranteed. Besides, it should be visible, even to the blind and audible to the deaf that child marriage has grave health implications.

    Research has shown that Vesicovaginal Fistula (VVF) is often caused by childbirth in underage girls, whose female organs are not fully developed. Complications arise and the result is the leakage of urine and faeces through the vagina.

    A way out of the controversy, in our view, is a constitutional guarantee of a free and compulsory primary and secondary education for all children of school age. That way, our children will be protected from the lecherous eyes of pedophiles.

  • CAN women make case for girl-child

    The National Chairperson, Women Wing Christian Association of Nigeria (WOWICAN), Mrs. Mabel Oyin Sowoolu, has sought an end to the vices against the girl-child.

    Mrs. Sowoolu said the group would write to the National Assembly to protest against underage marriages.

    She spoke with reporters in Abuja after the association’s quarterly executive meeting in preparation for the WOWICAN convention in October in Owerri, the Imo State capital.

    According to her, should the lawmakers ignore the protest and legislate in favour of underage marriage, mothers would go naked to oppose the law.

    Asked what the association would do if the lawmakers vote in favour of underage girl-child marriage, she said: “I pray that will not happen. But if it happens, look, don’t underrate anybody. If it happens, mothers will go naked.”

    She said no right thinking mother would support the marriage that favoured a few people in Nigeria.

    She said had the female lawmakers and others occupying prominent positions married at 13, would they be where they are today?

    Said she: “If they are not having proper education, will they be able to perform? Why is it that all the time we are bashing the girl-child and women?”

    The chairperson said the association has been organising capacity building programmes for girls to acquire skills to make them ignore harmful offers from men.

    She said the onslaught on the girl-child has become worrisome as incidence of rape is on the increase.

    Mrs. Sowoolu said since the association has realised that most rape victims hardly expose themselves, it has encouraged them to speak out whenever they are raped so that the issue can be addressed.

    She said “:Our girls are being shattered, being destroyed, the main thing in all of this is the psychological side of it. Many of them are dying silently. Nobody wants to say my daughter is raped because of the stigma, but we are encouraging them now to say it so that this thing will be addressed.”

     

  • ‘The girl-child deserves to be educated’

    ‘The girl-child deserves to be educated’

     

    Amid the dissonance of voices trailing the position of the Senate on the on-going amendment of the constitution that a girl automatically becomes an adult once she is married, the Special Adviser to the Governor of Katsina State on Girl-Child Education and Child Development, Hajia Bilikisu M. Kaikai, tells ADETUTU AUDU that the girl- child deserves to be educated.THE education of the girl-child is apparently a priority to Governor Shema. Why is this so?

     

    His Excellency, Governor Shehu Shema, established the Department of Girl-Child Education and Child Development in 2008 as the first of its kind in Nigeria to improve the lot and the quality of life of girls, especially those from poor background in the rural communities. The establishment of the department underscores the governor’s passion for the education of the girl-child preparatory to her holistic development. It tells the story of a leader in a hurry to develop the human resources of the state without leaving any segment behind. Things can only get better when all the segments of the society have access to education so that the talent God has deposited in each of us can be developed and such can be used for the development of our state and the country.

    The state government also established schools exclusively for girls in each of the 34 local government areas of the state. The department mapped out strategies and domesticated international practices such as Teacher-Trainee Scholarship Scheme (FTTSS) to produce female NCE teachers and Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), among others, to improve the lot of girls from poor families in rural communities.

    So, how do the two programmes aid the education of the girl-child?

    FTTSS is one of the components of UNICEF/DFID’s Girls’ Education Project (GEP). The scheme is a special intervention providing financial support to the tune of N50, 000 for each female NCE student annually for registration, education materials and general upkeep. Beneficiaries are drawn from poor families in rural communities so that at the end of their training, they are bonded to return to their communities to teach. How this helps is that it increases the number of qualified female teachers in rural schools, provides mentoring services to girls, makes rural schools girl-child friendly, increases enrolment, improves attendance as well as raises completion and transition rates.

    FTTSS implementation in Katsina State started after 150 girls in 2008 secured admission into the state College of Education for their NCE programme .It was agreed that the state government was to support 100 students and the remaining 50 by UNICEF/DFID. The number of beneficiaries increased to 240 in 2009 and, in 2010, it went up to 340 after it was decided that each local government in the state should contribute 10 beneficiaries to the scheme while the state government support 80 percent and UNICEF/DFID support 20 percent.

    Under the CCT scheme, the girl-child gets paid to remain in school. This is an innovation to keep the girl-child in school in a society where parents oftentimes are not disposed to educating the female children. The state government is the main financier of the CCT, with technical and moral support from UNICEF, MDGs, World Bank and other stakeholders. It is designed to increase the level of enrolment of girls in school and their retention until graduation, as well as reduce the poverty level of benefiting families. The programme is run in nine LGAs. 125 primary schools are involved while 9095 beneficiary-girls receive N5, 000 each every three months. Each girl is paid the sum through her mother if she scores 80 percent attendance in school in the three months monitored and evaluated.

    Funding must have been a big challenge. How has the state government been able to sustain it?

    The state government has committed more than N300million from the inception of the programme in 2009 to date to the CCT. The amount represents the expenditure incurred in establishing the implementation unit, purchase of monitoring vehicles, training, cash disbursements to beneficiaries and other logistics.

    The CCT Programme Implementation Unit has disbursed five cash transfers and 12 rounds of mandatory monitoring to be followed by three rounds of monitoring preparatory to the sixth cash transfer in August, 2013.

    And in appreciation of Katsina State government’s commitment to the success and continuity of the programme, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) headquarters in Abuja contributed N200 million to facilitate successful implementation. UNICEF also engaged a resident consultant from Ayala Consulting Equador, who helped in laying solid foundation for effective and successful implementation of the CCT programme. UNICEF contributes in the areas of training and other consultative services. The need to make mothers own the CCT demands that we provide them with skills and resettlement packages.

    The CCT runs currently only in nine LGAs. What happens in the remaining 25 LGAs?

    His Excellency, Governor Shema’s plan is to scale up the programme to cover all the 34 local government areas of the state, as well as extend the programme to junior secondary schools (to complete basic education circle) in the state. This will hopefully be in active collaboration with the World Bank, MDGs, UNICEF, and other development partners and stakeholders.

    Apart from this, which other areas is the Shema administration making the difference in the life of the child?

    The governor has shown tremendous interest in the orphans and vulnerable children so much so that there are adequate provisions for their upkeep. We have a Children’s Home in Katsina town where these children are taken care of. These children are accommodated in the home, fed and clothing provided for them. They are also given the opportunity of education while efforts are made to locate their families or hand them over to leaders in their areas for proper care.

    The general public is also given the opportunity to serve as foster parents to these children by adopting them. The state government strengthened the national survey on orphans and vulnerable children by going into partnership with local NGOs to conduct a baseline survey which yielded 37,000 of such children as against the 17million captured at the national level, and reflecting the children’s needs to be provided by the three tiers of government and international agencies.

    Now, to reduce the incidence of vulnerable children, we are mounting a sensitisation campaign against child abandonment. And in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, the state government provided education support to 300 orphans across the state and for which N1, 920, 000 was received from global funds. The state government invested N2, 682, 000 as counterpart fund in this project. The state government also enhances children’s participation in activities at national and continental levels.

  • The Almajiri and girl-child school project

    The Almajiri and girl-child school project

    prior to the 2011 Presidential campaigns, President Goodluck Jonathan promised to ensure that the over 10million almajirai that are out of school across Nigeria, especially in the north, have access to quality basic education.

    After the election, he has proved that he can make a promise and go all the way to fulfil it.

    Last year, the President inaugurated the very first Almajiri school that was completed by the Federal Ministry of Education through one of its parastatals, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND). This still did not convince some of the sceptics of the project that the government is determined to actualise the dream of ensuring that no almajiri is left on the street to beg, whilst other kids are acquiring basic education in addition to their other forms of religious education.

    The scepticism of the observers has served as the needed impetus for the Federal Government to quietly, but with the right determination execute the Almajiri school projects all over the nation. The bulk of the projects are domiciled in the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), with the Minister of State for Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, serving as the supervising minister.

    The Almajiri school projects are 100 in number, with majority of them located in North East, North West and North Central geo-political zones. A few are sited in South-West and South-South due to the influx of small percentages of Almajiri to those states from parts of the north.

    Out of the 100 schools, 70 have been completed and furnished, ready for hand-over to the respective states where they are located. The remaining 30percent of the schools have reached more than 90percent completion rate and are being furnished in readiness for hand-over to the state governments.

    The Vice President Namadi Sambo will commission one of the completed schools in Jigawa State on behalf of the President. This is a symbolic programme that will kick-start the general handing over of the schools in different parts of the country.

    The model one and model two Almajiri schools that have been completed by the Federal Government are architectural masterpieces that are meant to attract the pupils and their Islamic teachers and keep them in the schools. They are equipped with habitable hostels, quality classrooms and stocked with up-to-date basic education instructional materials.

    Experienced teachers will be posted to these schools. These teachers working with the Mallams are expected to impact both Islamic and Western education to these children. The curriculum has been specially designed to ensure that they receive the required training to be functional citizens who will contribute their quota to national development.

    Like the Almajiri schools, the Special Girl-Child Model Schools located in 16 states of the federation are being built to create access to basic education for disadvantaged less privileged. These schools are also ready for hand-over, asides the one located in Bayelsa State that is yet to be constructed. These special girl-child model schools will be operated with consideration for the religion and culture of the host states. This is to encourage parents to release their daughters to acquire basic education, with the knowledge that their respective religions and culture will be respected.

    The Almajiri and the girl-child constitute the highest percentage of out-of-school children in the country. Ensuring that they have access to basic education is a worthy achievement that should be applauded by all Nigerians.

    After the hand-over of these schools, the Federal Government will continue to support the states in running the schools via the provision of the needed instructional materials that will be used by the teachers and pupils.

    It is true that the current number of schools cannot accommodate the millions of out-of-school children in the respective locations. They are, however, meant to kick-start the process of ensuring that every one of them is accommodated in a classroom. This will be made possible if states, local councils and non-governmental organizations key into the project. For most of the states, they have already started constructing their own schools.

    The successful completion of these schools is a function of the dedicated supervision of project consultants, contractors and officials by the Minister of State for Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike.

    The most important aspect of the completion of these schools is the fact that the Jonathan administration has succeeded where previous administrations failed.

    Indeed, there is a correlation between mass literacy and peace in the society. As more Almajirai access quality basic education across the country, the more secured the nation will be as political mischief makers will have less hands to manipulate.

    By Simeon Nwakaudu,

    Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Education (Media), Abuja.

  • ‘Stop violence against girl-child’

    The Nigerian Girls’ Guide of Nigeria, Mushin, Lagos Division has held a walk to protest against molestation of women and children.

    With various placards bearing different advocacy messages, the group urged government and individuals to apprehend anyone involved in the dastardly act.

    Some of the messages read: “Together we stop violence”, “Shun abortion today to safe life”, “No to girl-trafficking”, “stop AIDS, it is suicidal.”

    The group’s Divisional Commissioner for Mushin, Olori Olanrewaju Bakare, said: “The walk is to create awareness that young women should be well respected in the society. There are some things they do to our young girls nowadays which are not palatable to nature. Some of them do not have proper education; they are maltreated and sent to hawk on the streets while their mates are in school.”

    Olori Bakare enjoined young girls to abstain from premarital sex, adding that it is destructive. “They should zip up because sex is not what they should embrace now; their education is very important,” she said.

    She described raping in the society as sacrilegious and suicidal, as she urged perpetrators of the heinous crime to desist from it.

    She added: “Our girls should be satisfied with whatever their parents give them; lack of contentment leads them to looking out for men who will eventually get them pregnant under the guise of rendering assistance. They do not have anybody to care for the pregnancy and hence, they attempt to abort it, which in the end, destroys their lives.”

  • Protecting the girl-child

    Protecting the girl-child

    SIR: Shaped by discrimination and bias, the society, especially in the Third World, has dealt the girl-child a rough blow even before birth. In her journey through life, the girl-child, when lucky enough to be spared, undergoes a lot of harrowing experiences ranging from early marriage, low level of schooling exposure to violence, HIV infection, maternal death and Vesico-Vaginal Fistula (VVF).

    Although child marriage is against the law in many countries including Nigeria, it is estimated that about 51 million girls are forced into early marriages world-wide. Invariably, these early marriages deny girls the opportunity for quality education in addition to depriving them of their childhood. Among the more than 10 million children not in school, approximately 40% are girls.

    In Nigeria, women and girls constitute 60% of the illiterate population. Also, most young wives are burdened by growing up responsibilities, household chores, rearing of children, and consequently do not get a chance to interact with their peers or carry on friendships outside the household. This put them in a state of complete dependency on their husbands.

    As a result of the age gap existing between the child brides and their spouses, they are often exposed to domestic violence and other forms of abuse. Today, of all girls and women’s fears, that of being raped is the darkest. The rape epidemic in our society reflects the extent to which women’s and girls’ (human) rights are being violated. It has gone so bad that minors, as young as 4 years old, are now being raped with resultant effect of preventing the victims from socializing or settling down later in the future.

    Experiences have shown that investments in girls’ education translate directly and quickly into poverty reduction, better health care, better nutrition for the whole family and better overall economic performance. Therefore, one of the best strategies for protecting the girl child is to improve her access to good quality primary and secondary education. By the time she leaves the secondary school she would have been armed with some basic knowledge on how to cope and interact with the opposite sex and the challenges of child rearing. Elimination of gender gaps in school enrolment should be top priority.

    Public awareness should also be created about the dangers inherent in child marriages. Citizens also have to report cases of gender based violence to the police. Machinery should be put in motion to provide support for girls who are victims of early marriages and gender based violence by providing them with options for schooling through part- time or evening classes and in some cases skill acquisition programmes to empower them to be self reliant. Rehabilitation homes should also be built for them for their protection and psychological rejuvenation for renewal of interaction with the public. An example that readily comes to mind is the one put in place by the Lagos State government at Ipaja for the rehabilitation of victims of domestic violence,

    Efforts should be intensified to provide sexual and reproductive health services in form of counselling on family planning methods, safe sex and protection from HIV infection. More funds should be made available for corrective surgeries for victims of VVF.

    It is imperative for policy-makers to bear in mind that the worth of a nation is measured by the number of its empowered girls and not the amount of money in its foreign reserve.

    • Biliqis Bakare

    Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.