In commemoration of this year’s International Day of the Girl Child themed With Her: A Skilled Girl Force, a public lecture was held in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital to highlight and address the needs and challenges faced by the girl child as well as promote girls’ empowerment and the importance of fulfilling their fundamental rights.
This year’s celebration is focused on expanding learning opportunities for girls and charting new paths for them in an environment that is devoid of all forms of abuse while bringing together stakeholders to advocate and draw attention to the urgent needs and opportunities for girls to attain skills that qualify them for employment.
And to commence the year-long effort of working towards the theme of this year’s celebration, the Fill in the Gaps Outreach, a nongovernmental organization organized a public lecture in Ibadan tagged “The girl child as an endangered specie in the 21st century Nigeria at the Jogor Centre, Ibadan.
The lecture was a multi- purpose event; it was a commemoration of the United Nations International Day of the Girl Child, it was the formal presentation of the FIGs Outreach in public, the first edition of the outreach’s public lecture which was delivered by Professor Stella Odebode and the launch of a book titled, Womb of time.
Speaking during the lecture, the Wife of the Governor of Kwara state, Mrs Omolewa Yetunde Ahmed, stated that the responsibility of protecting girls is a collective effort which cannot be left to individual parents or guardians, adding that every girl child is vulnerable to abuse especially sexual abuse.
“Girls are vulnerable to abuse. It will shock people to know that I was also sexually molested while growing up; you wouldn’t call it the carelessness of my mum. I won’t call it that too; it was just due to circumstances at the time. We need to talk more about this, don’t keep quiet. If you have been there, you can encourage victims to come out of it and if you have not been there, you can encourage people not to fall victim.
“Whether we like it or not, our fingers are not equal and there are issues that make people want to compromise on their standard or expose some to the risk of abuse. Protecting children especially girls from abuse is a collective effort, it doesn’t have to be under your roof before you speak out. What I am leaving with us today is that we all have a duty to protect girls even when they are not directly under our watch; we are all saddled with the responsibility of saving lives and destinies,” Mrs Ahmed stated.
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In her lecture, Professor Odebode stated that though government is saddled with the responsibility of providing adequate security for all citizens, it is obvious that it cannot meet up and carry out this task alone, adding that it is therefore important that everyone takes the issue of security as a duty.
According to her, the girl child is the most vulnerable to all forms of abuses; financial, sexual and others, adding that this is the reason all stakeholders should work together to curb the menace of abuse which is on an all time high in recent times.
Professor Odebode however emphasised the need for girls to be educated and enlightened on issues of abuse so that they will stop putting themselves at risk adding that they also have a role to play in protecting themselves and reducing the risk of abuse.
In her opening speech, the founder and President of FIGs Outreach, Aderonke Olajide stated that the assignment for her is not just based on passion but also a result of a divine call. “It is God that has made this a reality. The journey to this day started over a year ago as a result of a prompting that was too strong to ignore, I yielded to the inner voice and here we are today. The journey witnessed so many challenges and struggles but like an eagle, I soared above the storms, forged ahead and sought wise counsel from people ahead of me and I was encouraged to move on.
“The name fill in the gaps outreach was purely divinely inspired just like the book, womb of time which is based on personal experiences. I am a product of many challenges in life from my secondary school to my university days and to be here today in this capacity, all I can say is that it can only be God,” she reiterated.
The organization according to her will reach out to girls and women in selected Local Government Areas of Oyo state by giving them skill acquisition opportunities, back to school materials for teenage girls, healthcare programmes, interest free micro credit facilities and seminars
and then