Education key to exploiting girl child potentials

The topmost ambition of most women is to go to school, get married, bear children and live happily ever after. There is, however an ambitious young Nigerian girl whose aspiration towers high above the norm. She wants to become the first female president of Nigeria. Meet Rabiatu Abdullahi.

 

Eighteen-years-old Rabiatu hails from Zaria in Kaduna State. She comes from a poor background and was to be married off immediately after her primary education because her parents could not sponsor her education beyond that.

 

Fortune, however smiled on her when she was chosen to be one of the beneficiaries of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) support. She acquired her secondary education through that intervention.

“After my primary education at Dakaci in Zaria, my parents decided to marry me out because they could no longer fund my education but luckily for me, UNFPA and Population Reproductive Health Initiative (PRHI) Centre for girls education came and said they would pay my school fees and provide my writing materials. That was how I started JSS 1 at Government Secondary School, Dakaci,” Rabiatu said.

 

“These organizations paid my school fees from JSS 1 to SS3. They also paid for my self-space, that is, lessons on how to take care of our health, talk in public, enter everywhere without harm from the public as well as skills acquisition which started from year one to six. I wrote mock examination in SSS2 but failed, when I got to SS3, I thought of not writing WAEC because of lack of fund. Then I wasn’t sure if UNFPA would foot the bill because I was among the first set to enjoy such sponsorship.

 

“Fortunately, UNFPA said it would pay for only WAEC and not NECO or JAMB. They took us to another school where we revised what we were taught from SS1 to 3 before writing the WAEC. After writing the exam, I got five credits in Maths, Physics, Biology, Agricultural Science and English. 

 

“Excited by my performance, my mother told me that she would pay for my JAMB so that I can move further to the higher institution. My father also bought FCE form for me, which I filled and applied for Biology Inter-science. I was given admission and that is what I am presently studying in FCE Zaria,” she explained.

 

Having acquired this level of education, Rabiatu announced openly at the recent launch of the Adolescent Girl Initiative (AGI) in Kaduna that she desires to become the first female president of Nigeria.

 

“Since I came in contact with UNFPA and PRHI, my orientation has changed as they always told us that, there is no difference between the male and female, and that whatever a man can do, a woman can also do. That is why my ambition is to become the first female president in Nigeria,” she said.

 

If she becomes the first female Nigerian president, she said she would give maximum attention to women and children issues because they deserve to be well taken care of.

 

 “I will advise the governors to address the issue of early marriage in their states especially the villages where children are forced to get married at an early age. 

“I will ensure every girl child is educated, they should at least have SSCE so as to know how to take care of themselves and their children,” she stressed.

UNFPA, however at the launch disclosed its intention to support 9,250 girls in Kaduna and Kebbi states as part of the 10 percent target of reaching 114,000 marginalized girls in Kaduna, Kebbi and Sokoto states.

According to the UNFPA representative in Nigeria, Ratidzai Ndhlovu, the Adolescent Girl Initiative (AGI) which was piloted in 2013 has been able to delay child marriage for girls by 2.5 years.

 

“In the pilot, UNFPA supported 400 girls and with the support from the government of Canada, we expect to support an additional 9,250 girls in Kaduna and Kebbi as part of the 10 percent target of reaching 114,000 marginalized girls in Kaduna, Kebbi and Sokoto states that the fund hopes to reach in future.

 

“As girls move into adolescence, gender disparities widen. In Nigeria, this is seen in the number of out of school girls and the percentage increases child marriages in northern Nigeria. When girls are out of school, we disenfranchise them and prevent them from acquiring the skills needed to contribute meaningfully in the labour market. 

“We also increase their risks of making wrong choices about their health and limit their potential to be everything they can and ought to be. Therefore, improving access to quality education for all is critical to all areas of a healthy society, including poverty reduction,” she said.

 

The initiative, which was launched in Kaduna, she said, is UNFPA’s response to the challenges identified with adolescent girls in reaching their full potentials. It is an initiative where girls are enrolled from primary to secondary school and financially supported to stay in school and empowered beyond the classroom. 

 

The girls are also enrolled in the UNFPA safe spaces where they are supported with extra numeracy and literacy classes, vocational skills, reproductive and child health information that empower them to perform better in school and in their adult life.