Educating The Girlchild in Nigeria

Education is refered to as the process of providing information to an inexperienced person to help him or her develop physically, mentally, socially, emotionally, spiritually, politically and economically.

Though so much emphasis is made on the formal education by nations many girls today, do not have adequate education beyond a certain age.

Little wonder, the United Nations in her Sustainable Development Goals seeks to ensure education for all.

In most climes, when a girl is 12-14 years old, the elders in the community feel she is “ripe for marriage” and their words are LAW.

So what are her "words" worth when the elders in the community have spoken?

But the truth remains that a girl who is given out in marriage at a very tender age is placed at a very high risk. First, she is not mature enough to be a mother and she has no skill, information and confidence that might lead to her being a better mother and wife if she were educated.

 For instance, Nigeria female teenagers emerged overall winner of the 2018 Technovation World Pitch in California, United States. Also, when the team, Save-A-Soul, developed a mobile application called ‘FD Detector’ to tackle the problem of fake Pharmaceutical products in the country, the Nigerian girls defeated teams from the United States, Spain, Turkey, Uzbekistan and China to become the first Nigerian team to win the competition.

The teenage girls are from Anambra State in the South-East region of Nigeria, and will be pitching their app to investors in the Silicon Valley.

The team argued that Nigeria has the largest market for fake drugs, and they plan to partner with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control [NAFDAC], using the app, to tackle this challenge, With a remarkable feat from these teenage girls.

This is a clear evidence that investing in the “Girl-Child Education” is vital to driving human capital development in the country.

    Think about great professionals like Chief(Mrs) Eniola Fadayomi, Prof.  Bolanle Awe, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Dr Obiageli Ezekwesil, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, Mrs Omobola Johnson, Mrs Sola Borha, Mrs Ibukun Awosika,  Dr Sarah Alade, Mrs Toyin Sanni, Ms Arunma Oteh, Ms Hadiza Bala-Usman, Ms Funke Opeke,  Mrs Bolanle Austen-Peters,among other are all products of great investments in the “Girl-Child Education”.

From the Technology, Finance & Investment, Creative Industry, Education, Policy and Advocacy space, women have the capacity to make exploits in Nigeria, and it all begins with the value for “Girl-Child Education".

There is no better time to invest more in the Unity Girls secondary schools,Girls Technical Schools and other Girls schools across the nation than now.

 Policy makers should as a matter of urgency create an enabling environment for increasing gender participation in the political, business, financial market, technology and even Agriculture sectors through the provision of a valuable pipeline for the “Educated Girl-Child”.

These will in turn transform these girls into women that will be agents of national transformation.


Edited by
Norah Okafor
Founder, Protect The Precious Foundation.