President’s wife pledges to champion public advocacy against child marriage
Mrs Aisha Buhari, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday pledged to lead public advocacy for the legislation against child marriage in the country.
This is contained in a statement issued by Mr Geoffery Njoku, the UNICEF Media and External Relations Officer, made available to newsmen in Abuja.
According to the statement, Buhari made the promise when 50 adolescent girls drawn from different schools in Bauchi, Zamfara, Katsina, Niger and Sokoto states as well as the Federal Capital Territory, paid her a courtesy visit.
It said: “No single girl will be left behind in my movement to get every girl into school.’’
The statement quoted Aisha as urging that “parents should endeavour to keep their daughters in school for at least 12 years”.
It said: “UNICEF and other partners are focusing their activities on the transformation power of education to equip adolescent girls to overcome all challenges that affect their lives and inhibit their prospects of advancement.”
The statement also observed that lack of female teachers in the rural areas was one of the challenges that had hindered girls’ enrolment and retention in schools.
It said that the UNICEF, in its intervention and support funds from partners, had started the Girls’ Education Project Phase 3 (GEP3) to ensure the enrolment of one million girls into school by the end of 2020.
The statement said that the project was currently running in Bauchi, Katsina, Niger, Sokoto, Zamfara and had initially contributed to the enrolment of 360,000 girls in primary schools in those states.
In her comments, the statement quoted Ms Jean Gough, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, as saying that investment in adolescent girls’ education was a wise thing to do.
“Adolescent girls should be empowered through deliberate policies to transform their lives and those around them.
“Young girls, who are educated, are better placed to improve their lives and their children’s health and have chances of survival to boost their work prospects.
“Investing in high quality girls’ education, prepare girls for life, jobs and leadership. It directly translates into the girls being powerful and positive change agents of development,” she said in the statement.
NAN reports that the 2013 National Demographic Health Survey indicated that there were about 20 million adolescent girls in Nigeria and with very low education rates.
Most of them were majorly present among very poor citizens, while 60 per cent of the 10.5 million children out of school in Nigeria were girls.
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10 Comments
I thought she is a victim of child marriage?
It is well. Our misrule is one more point to keep us busy while they continue in self deceit. Who does not know that the poverty in the north is self inflicted by the northern elite. The problem is why the whole country is held down by obvious sickness that needs direct and simple therapy. STOP CHILD MARRIAGE SIMPLE LEGISTRATURE WILL DO. BECAUSE IN OUR YOUTH SERVICES DAYS IT WAS A WEEKLY OCCATION TO SEE OLD MEN MARRIAGE TO CHILDREN. IT IS BOTH CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS FOR THE NORTH. THE PRESIDENT WIFE DOES NOT NEED TO START AGAIN WITH THIS PROPAGANDA. WE LOVE HER AND WE CAN SUGGEST TO HER WHAT SHE CAN DO TO BE BUSY AND CREDIBLE. BUT MUST SHE BEGIN WITH THIS THEN ALL SHE NEED DO IS TO VISIT ALL THE EMIRS AND START THE FIGHT FROM WITHIN. SHE DOES NOT NEED ANY EXTERNAL BODY TO TELL THE NORTH CHILD MARRIAGE IS OUT OF FASHION. THE WORLD IS LAUGHING AT US. SHE CAN VISIT SCHOOLS AND INSTITUTE A DEBATE COMPETITION IN BOTH PRIMARY AND SECONDARY. VISIT ALL THE HOUSES OF ASSEMBLY IN THE NORTH TO DRUM UP SUPPORT FOR THIS. LET THEM MAKE LAWS. YOU DO NOT NEED AN OFFICE OF FIRST LADY TO DO THIS AS SUCH, LET ALONE A BUDGET IF WE NEED CHANGE.
She is but in a different way.
Married at 18 to a 52 year old man then!
This is a war that she dare not go near;otherwise the whole of the North will fight her.
The story is that she was married off at 13 or so. That is why some people accuse PMB of being a paedophile. It is quite a strong story but extremely hard to verify now that man is president. But one day the truth will come out.
Yeah. Married off means allocated to marry Buhari. But the marriage was consummated at 18.
You mean she was “given” to him before she turned 18? That’s proper child marriage. Even if they were “married” when she was 18, it is still a bloody crime. And Buhari has the guts to call Nigerians unruly?!
My brother. The situation is that of Pot calling Kettle black.
No, it is acutally charcoal calling the pot black.
Hahhhaahhhha. No kill me with laughter ooooo.
Whether she married at age below 18years is she not better than many graduates and master holders who are commodities looking for who to buy, and men like you are running away from them, either because you felt that they knew better than you or they may have misused various opportunities to marry at the supposed time in the name of looking for means to become graduates thereby becoming merchandise or mobile shops. There is a lesser evil, then which one is better? First of all, people should give birth to the numbers of children they can conveniently care for per time
We will review and take appropriate action.