Wife of the Ondo State Governor, Mrs. Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu has decried the inequality in education among the girl child and their male counterparts. She said cultural norms, traditional and religious beliefs have helped in discriminating against them.
She spoke at the opening ceremony of BeMore Summer Bootcamp for Girls Naija, 2018, put together by BeMore Empowered Foundation in conjunction with the Office Wife of the Governor. Over 400 girls are to be trained in Information Communication & Technology (ICT), Solar Technology and other life-enhancing skills.
Tracing the history of two nations- Nigeria and United Arab Emirate (UAE) way back to the 1970, Mrs. Akeredolu pointed out that 40 years down the line, UAE has made tremendous progress to become a high income country while Nigeria still remains a middle income country.
According to Mrs. Akeredolu, what made the difference is female education as UAE made significant investments in girl child education with more than 90 per cent of their women educated.
“On the contrary, Nigeria’s female illiteracy population remains high till date. More than half of our women are still without a formal education. These facts made me to conclude that; one more educated woman leads to much more national income.
“Every single day; 102 women die as a result of childbirth while 2,123 children’s dream of celebrating their 5th birthday is crushed by death. These challenges are largely as a result of low literacy level”, she said.
Mrs. Akeredolu, who expressed joy at being part of the active movement working to help the nation achieve its sustainable development goal, restated her commitment to empowering the women folk while also urging the beneficiaries to strive to be part of the solutions on some of the problems bedevilling the country.
On the successes recorded after the completion of last year’s training, Mrs. Akeredolu acknowledged the feats attained by Tomisin Tomoloju, a student of Fiwasaye who won the Africa Code Week Scratch Competition for Ondo State; young Oluwafunmilola Akeremale, a JSS1 student who has been mentored to become the youngest breast cancer advocate in the state; Tolu Ehimosan who built a state-of-the-art solar oven among others. She urged the new entrants to do their best as their journey to greatness begins.
Mrs. Akeredolu also praised the efforts of the Anambra Golden Girls who clinched the gold medal at a world technovation challenge while also thanking all those who invested both money and time to ensure the success of the 2nd edition of the Summer Bootcamp.
BeMore Ambassador, Ehimosan Tolu in her goodwill message acknowledged the roles women have played in the past towards impacting humanity.
Ms. Ehimosan, who observed that though the society has not been fair in giving the girl child ample opportunity to excel however, extolled Mrs. Akeredolu for creating such an opportunity through her initiative to train young girls.
In his remark, the Chairman, Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC), Hon. Olugbenga Edema thanked Mrs Akeredolu for providing the rare opportunity to train the young girls.
Hon. Edema, who also praised Mrs. Akeredolu for redefining urbanisation by taking the training to the grassroots, expressed readiness to continue to support such laudable projects.
Earlier in his address, the chairman of the occasion, Dr. Moji Atalabi enjoined the girls to take advantage of the training, saying it was a privilege they must explore to the fullest.
Akintan Ayomide and Arifayo Oluwanifemi, two of the beneficiaries in their remarks thanked Mrs. Akeredolu for giving them the privilege to participate in the programme.
It is expected that the 14-day training programme will feature training in ICT, Solar Technology and life-changing skills for the 400 girls drawn from across the 18 local government areas and beyond.
