By Chibuike Nwabuko
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – UNICEF in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Education; State Universal Basic Education Boards of Bauchi, Niger, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara states have launched the Girls for Girls (G4G) initiative to commemorate the Day of the Africa Child.
These focus states of Bauchi, Niger, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara have the highest number of girls who do not attend school in Nigeria.
It made the call in press release sent t Sundiata Post ahead of Friday’s Day of the African Child. June 16 is a day set aside to celebrate the African Child.
The G4G will empower girls with information and knowledge to help build their capacity to stand up for themselves. It aims at creating equal opportunities for girls to access education.
The launch of G4G initiative on the Day of the African Child is apt and timely, especially for the girl child whose fortunes are not nearly as bright as for boys.
UNICEF said the primary goal of G4G is to empower girls with knowledge, skills and confidence needed to enroll and remain in school, completing the full course of education so they can be role model to other girls in their communities.
The Fund believes that working with members of the Mothers Association as mentors, girls will initiate and lead a range of activities to identify barriers to the education of girls in their communities and work to remove such barriers so girls will enroll and remain in school.
UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Mohamed Fall said, “The G4G initiative is a commitment to improving the quality of girls’ and ultimately women’s lives by empowering girls through education”,
“By educating girls, practices such as early marriage will be uprooted and girls will be empowered to contribute to the development of their communities, states and Nigeria’, he noted.
The G4G initiative is a component of the Girls’ Education Project Phase 3 being implemented in northern Nigeria through collaboration between UNICEF Nigeria and the Federal Government of Nigeria with funding from the United Kingdom (UK) Department of International Development (DFID).
According to Fall, this phase of the Girls Education Project seeks to help put 1 million girls in school, support them to remain in school and improve their learning achievement.”
“Nigeria, still has the largest number of girls not in school. When girls enter school, a vast majority of them do not complete primary school education. The average girl stays in school only through age nine. Less than one-third of girls in Nigeria enrol in the lower secondary school, and, in northern Nigeria, less than one in 10 girls generally complete secondary education”.
G4G groups will be established in more than 8,000 Primary and Qur’anic schools by 2019.
Sundiata Post recalls that UNICEF focuses effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.