‘We Need More Girls to Go to School in Nigeria,’ Says 13-Year-Old Junior Secondary School Girl

Cursory: A 13-year-old Nigerian has urged Nigerians to join in the move to get more girls enrolled in schools across the country, This call was made by Abdullahi Buhari of Government Day Secondary School Abukur in Rimi Local Government Area of Katsina state. Buhari’s advocacy come as UNICEF in partnership with the Ministry of Education, and the UK FCDO has successfully facilitated the enrollment of 1.5 million girls in schools in northern Nigeria.

Buhari, a Junior Secondary School 1 (JSS) student of Government Day Secondary School Abukur in Rimi Local Government Area of Katsina state said Nigeria needs more girls in school to attain her desired level of development and economic stability.

The teenager made this assertion while speaking to journalists on the sideline of the closing ceremony of the Girls’ Education Project (GEP3), an initiative commissioned by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education and funding from United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

Buhari said:

“Now because of He4She more girls are coming to school and we need more and more girls to be in school. We must also make sure we support them and protect them from any harrasemnt and ensure their safety.”

Supported with 79 million GBP, the GEP3 project which lasted between 2012 and 2022 aimed to increase the number of girls completing basic education and acquiring skills for life and livelihoods in five states across northern Nigeria – Sokoto, Katsina, Bauchi, Niger and Zamfara with Kano state joining in 2018.

It also aimed to improve the capacity of teachers to deliver effective quality teaching for girls, increase social and economic opportunities for girls, reduce disparities in education outcomes between girls and boys and improve governance to strengthen girls’ education in Nigeria.

Like Buhari, Maryam Salmari, a 14-year-old student of Government Girls Secondary School, Dambatta in Kano state believes that girls deserve more opportunities for basic education.

Also admitting that the project has encouraged more girls to go to school, Salmari said:

“Let’s take for instance, espcailly in the north, you know some of the girls do not attend school in the rural areas as a result of traditional belief of their parents who say it is better for the girl child to get married.

“So GEP3 had a committee for enlightening the parents and the traditional leaders in the communities on the importance of girls’ educaton for the child, their parents and even the community.”

Read Also: I Vowed To Support Girl Child Education After My Sister Left School For Marriage – Obasanjo

ALLSCHOOL TEAM