World girl day: Group urges governments to bridge gender disparity

GOVERNMENTS at all levels have been urged to come up with deliberate policies on skills acquisition programmes that would equip girl child with a view to bridging the gender disparity in Nigeria.

The President and Founder of the Helpline Foundation for the Needy Abuja, Dr Jumai Ahmadu made this call, on Thursday, during a skill acquisition training programme organized for over 200 girl child as part of activities to commemorate the 2018 International Day for the Girl Child held in Karu Local Government of Nasarawa State.

According to her, “it is disturbing to see our girls hawking on the streets across the country while their male counterparts are in classes. Statistics have shown that girls constitute a higher number of dropout school children in Nigeria. We are using this occasion to call on the government to reverse this ugly trend by initiating policies that will equip the girl child to face future challenges.

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“They have less access to information, communication technology and resources, such as the internet where the global gender gap is growing. A quarter of young people, most of them girls, are neither employed nor getting an education or training.” She noted.

Dr Ahmadu bemoaned the high rate of girls who could not access education or any form of skill acquisition that would prepare them for future challenges.

She observed that across the world, especially in Nigeria, girls face adversities that hinder their education, training and entry into the workforce, just as she called on the government to come up with measures that would change the narratives.

Commenting on this year’s theme: “With Her: A Skilled Girl Force,” the president said about 1.1 billion girls of today’s world were challenging the status quo.

It will be recalled that the United Nations have adopted October 11 every year as International Day for the girl child.