Hajiya Samira Shinku, an advocate and a development worker, has called for more sensitisation among Nigerians on the importance of girl-child education to national growth and development.
She made the appeal while interacting with journalists on Sunday in Birnin Kebbi.
Shinku said: “There is need for NGOs to come in and help just as they used to do before by educating, enlightening and sensitising people about the importance of the girl-child education.
“Government also have to come in from local to national levels, if possible, a bill should be passed to give every girl equal right to be educated just like the boys.”
The advocate lamented the high level of out-of-school chdren in Nigeria, pointing out that the situation in Northern Nigeria is more pathetic compared to other regions.
She observed that educating a girl-child was just like educating the whole nation, “but the issue at hand is many girls are out-of-school across Nigeria and one of the reasons behind that is the issue of insecurity.
“In recent years, we have been hearing about girls being abducted by Boko Haram, bandits and other insurgents and up to now government is not doing enough to see that all those issues are tackled the way they are supposed to be tackled.
“So, due to these reasons we have gone back to old age, where a girl gets married after her basic education. So, there is no need to encourage them to go to school with all these issues surrounding the nation.
“Most especially in the North, we have this notion that a girl is not supposed to be trained to go to school to certain level, the reason is, definitely she is going to get married.
“So, as parents all their focus go to boys, because they knew that if they train the boys somehow, somehow they will definitely benefit from it,” Shinku opined.
She, however, observed that a girl who gets married would start-up her own family, assuring that an educated mother will be far better than an uneducated mother in all ramification especially when it comes to training children.
Shinku therefore advised parents to find a means to completely stop such act, advocating for equal opportunity for girls to be educated just like their boys counterpart.
She said for a smooth girl-child enrollment in school, government must do everything possible to tackle the menace of insecurity bedevelling the nation, apart from addressing the present economic challenges.
The advocate noted that many parents could not afford three square meals talk more of enrolling children in school.
Advocate drums support for girld-child education
