SHE DESERVES IT: INTERNATIONAL GIRLCHILD DAY


11th of October is the day the United Nations has designed as the International day for the Girl Child.
It is celebrated annually all over the world, in order to raise awareness on the problems encountered by the girl child, support girls’ empowerment and human rights. This year, the emphasis is on guaranteeing the development of skills needed by the Girl-child to be relevant in a technology driven labor market.


It is time to ask ourselves pertinent questions as a nation. What peculiar difficulties does the girl child face in Nigeria? Having a discourse of this nature will generate issues ranging from the female mortality rate, to gender discrimination by parents, access to education, vulnerability to sexual related crimes, cultural nuances that dictate the place of the girl child in the society (which invariably leads to a dialogue on equal opportunities at work amongst other places as the girl child evolves).
The plight of the Chibok Girls and the lone remaining Dapchi girl (Leah Sharibu) in Boko Haram’s captivity is quite tragic and the Federal Government of Nigeria ought to make rescuing the girls a matter of emergency and top priority as is done by other governments of the world for their citizens. In fact, it ought to be one of the deal breakers for the upcoming presidential election in 2019. The Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) movement should also be highly commended for sustaining their awareness on the predicament of the girls and calls for their return home.
The Malala Fund is one of the international organizations that caters to girl child education, while at home here, several organizations including the pearls Africa (girls coding) are trying their best to ensure better future for girls.
Ways by which the above listed difficulties can be addressed include abolition of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), instilling values in children (especially males) so as to educate them to understand the value of gender equality, reorientation of cultural values and norms that stereotypes women with traditional roles and ensuring that female children have access to education amongst others.

Happy International #DayOfTheGirl  


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