In commemorating this year’s International Girl Child Day, a group has called on governments, societies and humanity to give priority attention to eradicating the plight of the Girl Child in Nigeria and North-East in particular.
This year’s international day of the girl child themed, “my voice, our equal future” held at the Gubio IDP camp in Maiduguri with participating girls drawn from different schools within Maiduguri in solidarity with the displaced children in the camps. While celebrating the Girl Child, the group, plan international, pleaded for the total eradication of all menaces of discrimination, exclusion and violence against the female gender as the girl child has equal right to life as the male counterpart.
Chinelo Amaechina, gender equality and inclusion coordinator of plan international disclosed at Gubio IDP camp, venue of the event that the North-East Nigeria has her definition of a girl child different from the UN standard definition which places any girl below the age of 18yrs as being a child. She said in the northeast, girls have been consistently abused and denied their rights due largely to illiteracy, culture, tradition which are all intertwined with religion.
According to Chinelo, their group is working assiduously with the state government and other relevant agencies to educate and enlighten the women, especially internally displaced women on the dangers of early marriage as well as other gender-based discriminations prevalent in their society.
