Nigerian-American child prodigy, Zuriel Oduwole has urged female leaders to intensify efforts towards girl-child education.
She made the call at the First Ladies’ Colloquy on Girl-child Education ‘Practical & Simple Solutions, one-village at a time’ which she hosted in Lagos last Saturday.
“I am not always happy seeing children out of school; it is a signpost to poverty and bleak future. We need involvement of first Ladies, mothers, School owners and all change-agents to ensure that the girl-child is allowed to have quality education and acquire skills that would make her a wholesome person to herself and the nation at large,” Oduwole stated.
She illustrated her vision for girl-child education with a mini-documentary on the role of technology in educating children around the world like she and her sister received their own education.
Participants at the event included select student representatives from Pampers Private school, Corona, Greensprings, Halifield and other schools.
The First Lady of Tanzania, Mr Salma Kikwete represented by the Ambassador of Tanzania to Nigeria, Mr. Daniel Ole Njoolay called all African leaders to support Zuriel’s genuine concern for the development of the continent and particularly the girl-child education campaign.
The First Lady of Lagos State, Dame Abimbola Fashola also advocated for equal education of both girls and boys.
“What I advocate is that we should not concentrate mainly on our girl children and forget about the male children because then we would have another problem to solve,” she noted.
Heritage Bank’s Managing Director, Mr. Ifie Sekibo represented by an Executive director of the Bank – Mr. Robert Mbonu, commended Zuriel’s impressive exploits in Nigeria and across the globe.
He stated that the bank was committed to children having financial responsibilities.
“Heritage Bank is built on three platforms; to create wealth, to preserve wealth and to transfer wealth across generations. In line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s financial inclusion strategy, we have adopted some schools. The idea is to ensure financial responsibilities in our children. We want them to learn basic skills of money management,” Mbonu said.
Mrs. Tokunbo Durosaro, Director, Oando Foundation, also applauded Zuriel for her efforts and appealed to private organisations to help develop the nation’s educational system.
She saw a clear parallel in what Zuriel was doing, and the efforts of Oando Foundation, noting how far and how much one young girl has done, and challenging the corporate community to do even much more.
The events sponsors included Eko Hotels, Coscharis BMW, Ethiopian Airlines, Heritage Bank, House of Tara, KSquare, Pan African University, Four Points By Sheraton, HERTZ, and The Nations Newspapers.
