YOLA — Preparatory to the international day for the girl child being set aside by the United Nations on 11th October each year, the Adamawa State government with support from UNICEF has trained 50 girls selected from five schools on Internet Communication Technology (ICT).
The local governments include; Fufore, Guyuk, Hong, Yola South and Yola North.
The Day of the Girl Child will look into concerns of the girl child and also generate viable conversations around the plight of the girl child.
Mr. Joel Jutum, UNICEF Education Consultant, while speaking at the event, said ten girls with the best results will be selected and that five will be sent to Abuja to represent Adamawa State and five will remain in the state.
“The best girls selected both in Abuja and Yola will be sent to various MDAs where they will be made to take up policy positions.”
“UNICEF is particularly concerned about the plight of the girl children because of their vulnerabilities and the lop-sided treatment they suffer, and so far three states in the North East including, Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe have been selected for the program,” Jutum said.
In her remark, Adamawa State Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Mrs. Wilbina Jackson said the state government is committed to the success of girl child education in the state.
Represented by the Director Human Capital Development, Muktari Tukur, she explained that the state has attained over 70 percent compliance in ICT literacy in its schools.
“In order to enhance universal coverage, Adamawa State has instituted free and compulsory education policy for all which has led to more enrolment of the girl child.”
“In Adamawa State, as a government, the administration of governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri has come up with free education policy among some other reasons to reduce girl child early marriage often at times girls are given out for marriage at a tender age, due to lack of financial capacity by their parents to pay school fees, unlike their male counterpart. This ugly incident often affects girl children from poor family backgrounds,” she said.
Also speaking, Dr. Jiddere Musa Kaibo, Chairperson, High-Level Women Advocate (HILWA), Adamawa State, encouraged the girls to study hard and serve as good ambassadors of their families.
“The state government should give women employment opportunities so as to encourage their enrolment in schools.”
“A woman has to put four times the effort of a man before she can achieve the heights he attained,” she said.
Kaibo urged women to strive for excellence as that they will continue to be consigned to the back seat in all facets of human endeavor.
Dr. Salihi Ibrahim Ateequ chairman of Adamawa State Universal Basic Education Board (ADSUBEB) decried the high rate of rape among the girls noting that it was the height of callousness to know that men sometimes even raped their daughters and girls as old as three months being raped.
