Criminalise Acts Impeding Girl Child Education, Rivers NAWOJ Begs Govt, Lawmakers
Edith CHUKU
The Nigeria Association of Women Journalists NAWOJ, Rivers State chapter, has called on governor Siminalayi Fubara, the state and local Assembly to enact laws that criminalises any act capable of impending on the education of the girl child.
The association made this call on Friday, as it joined the world to commemorate the International Day of the Girl Child, in Port Harcourt.
NAWOJ also appealed to Fubara to prevail against hawking during school hours, as well as call for an end to early girl child marriage.
The state Chairperson of the association, Susan Serekara-Nwikhana, who spoke in an interview with TNN said, “we are calling on the Rivers State government, the Rivers State House of Assembly and the Local Assembly to enact laws that criminalises any act capable of impending on the education of the girl child.
“We also want the government to throw her weights against any girl child found hawking on the streets during school hours as this will serve as deterrent to any parent or ward that is nursing such idea.
“There is need for every girl child to be properly educated as this impact generally on the society positively.”
Speaking on the 2024 theme which is “Girls Vision For The Future” Serekara-Nwikhana stressed the need for parents to prioritize the education of their daughters.
She explained that quality education was key to an assured future for every girl child, stressing that education unlocks doors of possibilities and the I can spirit.
Her words, “Remember, you put an end to blind submission when you train the girl child. Today, many girl child have been abandoned and are left to pass through harrowing conditions that they never dreamt of due to lack of education.
“Do you know that the girl child suffers most as she is confronted with lots of challenges from the day she was born into a home; siblings rivary on who should go to school and who should not, a decision that most parents takes that negatively impedes on the girl child and to the day she steps into her husband’s house, especially with a wicked mother or father in-law.”
She noted that only those female children privileged to acquire quality education can surmount the challenges that confronts them on their way to greatness.
“As we all know that the role of every woman in the society cannot be overemphasized as such without education given to the gild child, the society will raise dysfunctional women, who are abused, used and abandoned.”
The NAWOJ chair insisted that “when the girl child is exposed to education, you have given her opportunity to endless possibilities, thereby putting an end to subjugation and blind subservient.”
