As Nigeria joins the world to commemorate the International Day of the Girl-Child, the National Council of Women’s Societies (NCWS) Sunday called on the government at all levels to implement laws protecting the girl-child.
Its national president, Laraba Shoda, who made the call in a statement to mark the day in Abuja, noted that the importance of the day cannot be over emphasised as it aims to promote girls empowerment and fulfillment of their human rights.
“As we mark this year’s International Day of Girls, we should review the status of girls in Nigeria in accordance with the spirit of the day and use our findings as a call to action,” she said.
Shoda also noted the importance of the year’s theme: “My Voice, Our Equal Future.” With the hashtag #Girlstakeover is a powerful message to allow girls occupy a public space and reinforce why their voices should be heard.
She called on the federal and state organisations and agencies to give opportunities to girls to fill the position of decision-maker’s roles for a day.
”This will help our girls to see the possibilities for them to also be decision-makers in the future. It is also a way to dismantling the perception that leadership roles are not meant for girls,” she said.
The NCWS president lamented that current data shows that “girls constitute 75% of children out of school out of the 13.5 million for reasons ranging from early marriage, teenage pregnancy to poverty, illiteracy and the insurgency.”
She reemphasised the importance of education for the girl-child as the premise of progress in every society and called on all to join hands to ensure all girls go to school.
”To tackle this, we are aware of the government’s national school feeding programme as a strategy for enhancing enrolment, attendance and completion of school.”
