The Federal Government said it will start to arrest children of school age seen on the streets during school hours, from October 15. This forms part of the activities marking the international day of the girl-child in Abuja yesterday. Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Uju Kennedy Ohaneye, made this known at the unveiling of girl-child education ambassador organised by the Nigerian Governor’s Forum (NGF) in Abuja on Friday, explained that this will enable the government to have access to their parents.
“The Federal Government is set to start picking out school children from the street, starting from 15 oOctober 2024. Picking those children from the street will enable the government to have access to their parents, especially their mothers,” she said. The minister stated the Federal government has a plan to empower mothers of out of school chil- dren so to enable them to care for their children.
First lady of Kwara State, Mrs. Olufolake Abdulrazaq said the right of Nigeria’s girl -child to education is an obligation and moral imperative, which she added, “strives to explicitly challenge bias and discrimination in the society, and seeks to identify critical gender disparities, and address the underlying factors that contribute to those disparities that mitigate against the right of the girl child to qualitative education.”
She noted that even though there has been significant progress in improving girl child access to education over the years, many girls, particularly the most marginalised, continue to be deprived of this basic right. She observed that the confer- ence hinges on closer achieving SDG 4, and the platform to address systemic barriers that hinder the implementation of an effective education strategy, but stated that this is without being region or state specific.
“Beyond basic education, how- ever, targeted investments are required to improve the quality and effectiveness of technical, vocational education and training for adolescent girls and young women, as this provides girls with the skills and capabilities for decent work, and therefore helps to en- sure a smooth transition into em- ployment and entrepreneurship,” she said.
