As the world marks today, the 11th day of october 2021 as the lnternational Day of the Girl Child, l join millions of well meaning people, social change makers and social advocates globally to celebrate this day and I wish every young girl out there the best life can offer, and success in their chosen endeavours and career paths. Today is a very significant day in the lives of every girl child around the world. As such l deem it fit to write about the girl child education in Nigeria. I will narrow down my write up on a very pertinent issue which borders on the education of the girl child in Northern Nigeria. ln most developing countries which Nigeria is not an exception, girls still face the worst forms of exclusion in education as a result of cultural and religious norms, gender bias which holds them back and hinders the educational pursuits of young girls, most especially in Northern Nigeria. The agenda of leaving no one behind ( girl child) of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) will go a long way to help the girl child achieve quality education, empowerment and equality.
The advent of the global pandemic (covid-19) outbreak globally coupled with the high level of insecurity and insurgency in Northern Nigeria slows down the pace of educational development and heightened the low girl child enrollment in Northern Nigeria as a result of humanitarian crisis in this region. As a result of this crisis, the situation of education in Northern Nigeria was threatened, academic activities were put on hold in trouble areas and schools were closed down for months to beefed up security so that the government can come up with a workable security measures and mechanisms to tackle the insecurity challenges. This puts the situation of the educational system in Northern Nigeria in jeopardy, and in a very difficult and tight corner which makes it seems impossible in achieving the sustainable development goal 4 (quality education) by 2030 in Nigeria a mirage.
According to Unesco lnstitute for Statistics 2019, all developing countries have or have almost achieved gender parity in primary education. But the gender disparity widens at the secondary and tertiary school levels in many countries including Nigeria. 79 young women for every 100 young men complete upper secondary school in low-income countries, Nigeria inclusive. For the past five years, education is under attack in Northern Nigeria. On April 14, 2014, the unthinkable event happened in which two hundred and seventy-six Nigerian school girls from Chibok town, Borno state, Northeast, Nigeria were abducted by a terrorist group boko haram which draws global attention from the international community with widespread condemnation from global leaders and international organizations around the world on the dastardly act carried out by the boko haram sect. Three years later, in May 2017 more than eighty chibok school girls were released by the terrorist group to unite with their families.
IN MAY 2017, MORE THAN EIGHTY CHIBOK SCHOOL GIRLS WERE RELEASED BY THE BOKO HARAM TERRORIST GROUP.
ON JANUARY 15, 2018 BOKO HARAM TERRORIST GROUP RELEASED A VIDEO THAT SHOWS AT LEAST 14 OF THE ABDUCTED SCHOOL GIRLS FROM CHIBOK TOWN, BORNO STATE, NORTHEAST, NIGERIA.
Till date 112 Nigerian school girls are still in captivity of the boko haram sect for seven years now. Some of the girls have been married off to boko haram commanders and they now have children for them which makes it seems as if all hope is lost on their return from their long years of captivity.
The dreaded boko haram terrorist group ideologies are opposed to western education, most especially that of the girl child, with strong religious convictions that young girls should be married off to their suitors at an early age (child marriage), hence western education is an evil taboo that must be fought against. These ideologies and religious convictions of the boko haram sect have made them to continually carried out series of deadly attacks and onslaughts on the educational infrastructures in Northern Nigeria with the primary target of kidnapping and abducting schoolgirls and children for ransom.
LIST OF NAMES OF THE REMAINING 112 CHIBOK SCHOOL GIRLS STILL IN BOKO HARAM CAPTIVITY.
The abduction of schoolgirls in Northern Nigeria continues unabated as on the 19th of February 2018, another set of 110 schoolgirls were abducted in Dapchi town, Yobe state, Northeast, Nigeria by the dreaded boko haram sect, all in the quest to discourage the girl child education in Northern Nigeria and to imposed their self styled child marriage doctrines on girls to dissuade them from western education. Though the Nigerian government have made concerted efforts using the military and other security outfits to secure schools in Nigeria, a lot still need to be done by the government and the armed forces to tackle the high level of insecurity and insurgency in Northern Nigeria and Nigeria as a whole. The Nigerian military needs to adopt new strategies and the use of non-kinectic approaches in tackling insecurity in Nigeria. The Nigerian government needs to adequately fund and equip the military and other security personnels with the state of the art modern weaponry and forensic technologies to be able to track, trace and apprehend criminals, and also to strengthen the security architecture of the armed forces in the country by constantly training and retraining of military personnels on intelligence gathering to be able to apprehend and combat criminals and terrorists in Nigeria.
FACES OF THE REMAINING 112 ABDUCTED CHIBOK SCHOOL GIRLS STILL IN BOKO HARAM CAPTIVITY.
In conclusion, as l celebrate today to mark the lnternational Day of the Girl Child with every girl child in Nigeria and around the world, my wish is to see that every girl child in Nigeria grow up to be that successful career woman that impacts her immediate community with remarkable milestones, legacies and footprints on the sands of time. To achieve all of these, we must all rally around support for girl child educational attainment, economic empowerment and advancement, give girls an opportunity to lead by putting them in the forefront of change efforts, hearing their voices, responding to their asks, and welcoming them in decision-making spaces - it is one of the ways to invest in a future that believes in girls' agency. I therefore urge the Nigerian government to intensify efforts to bring back the remaining 112 school girls still in boko haram captivity, because every girl has the right to education and girls' rights are human rights.
#GlobalGoal #SDGs #BBOG #unicef #unesco #UNWomennigeria #UNWomen #UNDP #UNDPNigeria #UNnigeria #euinnigeria #ukinnigeria #ECOWAS #CYPLP #Africanunion #EU #UN.
A BRIEF PERONAL BACKGROUND OF ENOBONG EKWERE (GIRL-CHILD RIGHT'S ADVOCATE) IN NIGERIA.
Comrade Enobong Ekwere is a social influencer, blogger, vlogger, human rights activists, peace practitioner, grassroot social mobilizer, SDGs advocate and a global citizen. He is the program manager of children and young people living for peace (CYPLP), an organic, voluntary of experts, youth focused and a think-tank non-governmental organization based in Kaduna state, Nigeria. A Higher National Diploma (HND) graduate of Public Administration (Upper Credit) from the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger state, Nigeria. Enobong Ekwere holds a proficiency certificate in management from the Nigerian Institute of Management, Chartered (NIM) Lagos, Nigeria. He is also a graduate member of the institute (Associate member in view). He works with young people in local communities across Nigeria localizing the sustainable development goals (SDGs) (SDG4 and SDG5 ) in particular and positive peace frameworks in Nigeria, accelerating action online and offline, engaging duty bearers and policy makers to be accountable for it's implementation by 2030 in Nigeria. He is a strong advocate of good governance and democracy, accountability in government, freedom of information, access to information, free press, social justice and social inclusion. As a youth advocate and a global leader who loves to see social reforms in the society, he uses his personalized blog to write compelling stories on developmental and topical issues on national and global concern that shapes and transform people's lives and impact the larger society for knowledge transfer and lifelong learning. He engages in community service and volunteerism, community outreach, social mobilization and advocacy tours to hard to reach local communities in Nigeria advocating and advancing the cause of the SDGs, SDG4 and SDG5 in particular so that no community and youth in Kaduna state and Nigeria at large would be left behind. CYPLP as an organization works primarily in serving vulnerable population of children, youth, elderly persons, persons with disabilities (PWDs) and women in unserved, underserved, underrepresented, disadvantaged and marginalized local communities in Nigeria.
My areas of competence in peace education and peace building process includes;
1. Conflict mapping, sensitivity and analysis
MY PERSONAL SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES:
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/enobong.ekwere.372
TWITTER:
http://www.twitter.com/Enobongekwere2
INSTAGRAM:
http://www.instagram.com/enobongekwere825
LINKEDIN:
https://www.linkedIn.com/in/enobong-ekwere-3271b116b
MY ORGANIZATIONA'S SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES:
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/cyplp.net.ng/
TWITTER:
http://www.twitter.com/youngpeoplefor/
INSTAGRAM:
http://www.instagram.com/cyplp/
WEBSITE:
www.cyplp.net.ng
INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTEER - INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION (IHRC) GENEVA, SWITZERLAND. 2023.
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