Educate the girl-child, empower the nation.

[FMINigeria]

                                                                                                                                                                                          By Obiechina Ngozi.

Onyinye Dike (not real names) was born before the Nigerian Civil War into a polygamous family, where the head of the family believed that sending a girl to school was a waste of time and resources. Then, it was the norm to tutor a girl on how to run a home, love, cherish and cook for a husband, get pregnant, have babies and take care of them. As far as they were concerned, a woman's world ends in the kitchen.

Onyinye grew up to admire the way of life of her brothers, because they were sent to school. She began to strive to be sent to school. Reluctantly, the father agreed to train her for primary and secondary education. After her secondary education, the thirst for more; to further her education increased in her. On her own, without the support of her father, she went to relatives to ask for fund for her University Matriculation Examination form, as she has passed her Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASCE) in flying colors.

Her relatives' support and encouragement saw her through her university education. She studied Pharmacy. Today, she is a Director in one of the Federal Ministries.

There is a saying that when you train a woman, you train a nation. Girls, like their male counterparts, have the right to education and skill acquisition; the right to career choice and self actualization. Girl-child education becomes pertinent for the attainment of national development, as the girl who will grow to be a woman is empowered.

Women empowerment has become a national issue, as a lot of our women are really contributing to the development of our great nation. One cannot talk of empowering a woman without education. Education is very important and the first step to empowerment; without education, empowerment is ruled out.

A man builds a house but a woman makes a home – because she is there to ensure that affairs are run smoothly – the children are well taken care of – spiritually, emotionally, physically, academically, just name it. A mother that is educated and empowered is in a better position to train up children who will be useful to the nation. I n the same way, she caters for the emotional needs of the man, so that the head of the family will contribute his meaningful quota to the development of the nation, without much distraction.

The family makes up the nation – so if our families are well taken care of by women who are educated and empowered, we will not now be fighting against terrorism – because it will not even materialize in the first place.

Women are meticulous, and empowering them to participate fully in economic life across all sectors is essential to build stronger economies, achieve internationally agreed goals for development and sustainability.

In the past, education has not necessarily been a priority for the girl-child because of cultural beliefs, poverty and so on. It is believed that the place of the girl-child is in her husband's house. The male child was considered to be superior to the gild-child in many aspects especially education and that is why in most cases; only the male child had access to education. In Nigeria today, our women in business and different careers have proven that there are no profession made specifically for the men folk alone.

According to the report released by British Council, Nigeria has a population of 162.5 million people, of which 49 percent are females, that is, some 80.2 Million girls and women. In view of this, any plan about Nigeria's future must entail consideration of girls and women, the role they play and the challenges they face in making their impact felt in the future.

To this effect, Government should ensure that States that have not enforced the Child Rights Act should do so now, as this will go a long way to ensure that the girl-child is sent to school to be educated, and not to homes to babysit and collect stipends.

Obiechina Ngozi, an Information Officer writes in form the national Press Centre, Federal Ministry of Information.

Source: Educate the girl-child, empower the nation.
Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria