By Dr Boniface Chizea
I thank Anglican Girls Grammar School Asaba Alumni Worldwide Association for this singular honor and privilege of not only, at very short notice, recruiting me to be the chairman of this epoch making fund raising event but also at the same time extending an invitation to me to share my thoughts on the important topic of empowering the girl child for success in a dynamic environment.
The importance of the female gender in the scheme of things I thought by now must have been a concluded and settled matter since agitations on this score go back some few years now.
Various estimates put the female gender to be at least 50 per cent of the population, some say up to 60 per cent. It is therefore obvious that you cannot neglect such an important and powerful group and still expect to make commensurate progress. It will tantamount to attempting to clap with one hand; a very worthless effort in deed.
And woman power is well recognized by those who are conscious and enjoy discernment as most of my friends will readily refer to their wives as their boss.The power of woman is brought forcefully home to all when we recall the saying that when you educate a woman you educate a household; even a nation considering the strategic role women play in formation.
Teach a child the way to go and then as he grows, he will never depart from it. My one concern now is that the effectiveness of the central role women are expected to play particularly at home is now being impeded as well as eroded as we transverse the digital age of high tech, robotics, artificial intelligence and as we struggle to come to terms with the intrusion of internet into all things and all spheres of life.
The reality is that most children now learn a lot from the internet which emphasizes the point of the need to keep a keen eye on the sites our children visit. The challenge is for mothers of today to be intentional to ensure that these days of ready made kitchen that their wards and children are still put through the basics of home cooking and making up and tidying up the homes to ensure that they are ready for possible eventualities of life as they journey.
But in spite of the dynamic environment we now live in there are still certain aspects of life that have retained their pride of place in our lives if we are to remain useful and valuable members of the society; these are values.
It is difficult from where I stand to negotiate and compromise such values as honesty, truthfulness, hard work, industry, temperance, contentment and above all the fear of the Lord. So we are challenged to pass on such values more by the witness of the life we live rather than by mere precepts.
Since the year 2012, October 11 has been reserved as the International Day of the girl-child which aims to highlight and address the needs and challenges of the girl-child.
This day has just been celebrated with the theme: ‘’GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable.” In 1995, almost 25 years ago before some of the girls of today were born, the fourth World Conference on Women made history for girl’s rights agenda in the world with the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and the platform for action. Also it is on record that the United Nations adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child on November 20, 1959 which harped on the need for the girl child to be given the means for normal development both materially and spiritually.
However, despite these efforts the records indicate that each year 12 million girls under 18 are married; 130 million girls worldwide are still out of school. And approximately 15 million adolescent girls 15-19 have experienced forced sexual intercourse. In Nigeria 39 percent of girls are married off before age 18 with 16 per cent married before they turned 15 making Nigeria to hold the record as having the highest prevalent rate of child marriages in the world.
Another issue which affects the rights of the girl child is Female Genital mutilation. According to record just over one in four girls and women aged 15-49 years have under gone female genital mutilation. There is also gender discrimination on school enrollment in spite of 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Under aged street hawking is a universal phenomenon that is not only common to Nigeria but it is also practiced in both industrialized and developing countries of the world.
Six out of every 10 children experience some form of violence. One in four girls and 10 per cent of boys have been victims of sexual violence.What therefore is to be done? There is the need for the implementation of laws relating to the protection of the girl child in our environment and also for the enactment of other stricter laws in the light of contemporary developments. There is the need to eliminate all obstacles to girl child education in Nigeria to encourage them to stay at school until at the least the completion of junior secondary education.
The technical Committee inaugurated by the Ministry of Women Affairs aimed at reducing child marriages by up to 50 per cent by year 2025 and the National Strategy Document developed to ensure zero child marriage in Nigeria by 2035 should go about its assignment with all the seriousness it requires as it gives breadth to the carefully agreed strategies.
The outstanding 12 states in the country yet to sign the Child Rights Act (2003) are invited as a matter of urgency to do so without much delay to give legal backing to the termination of marriages under the age of 18.
Civil Society Organizations are called upon to rise to the occasion by mounting pressure on government at both the national and sub national levels to adopt and implement protocols that have been signed into law for the protection of the rights of the girl child in every respect. Development partners and sundry donors are also requested to join in mounting requisite pressures for the protection of the girl child.
There is the need for school administrators and related agencies to take up cases of sexual harassment with all the seriousness that it deserves by ensuring that perpetrators are swiftly brought to book. The rest of us are called upon to experience total reorientation on the critical values of girl-child especially as it relates to education and skills acquisition.