From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Vice President, Kashim Shettima has assured that the Bola Tinubu’s administration remains fully committed to issues of girl-child education and gender empowerment and will promote same in the policies and programmes of the Federal Government under his watch.
According to a statement by Director Information, Office of the Vice President, Olusola Abiola, he have the assurance
when he received on a courtesy visit to the Presidential Villa, a delegation from the United Nations led by the UN Deputy Secretary-General (UNDSG) and Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, Mrs Amina Mohammed.
She was accompanied on the visit by the Co-Founder Malala Fund, Ms. Malala Yousafzai and other officials.
Shettima reiterated President Tinubu’s commitment to issues of education and empowerment of women, noting that “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is fully and unequivocally committed to the girl-child education and gender empowerment initiatives.”
According to him, “the SDGs goals 4 and 5 will be vigorously pursued by the present administration. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a passionate and committed advocate of girl-child education. He believes in the empowerment of our women. He believes that the prosperity, the respect of every society is directly proportional to the way they treat their women folk.”
He commended the UNDSG and the Co-founder of Malala Fund for their efforts in promoting girl-child education among other initiatives.
“Amina Mohammed stands today as a symbol of hope for the African woman for her resilience, commitment and disposition and most importantly in her integrity. She is an oasis of hope in an unending ocean of poverty and depravity, while Malala as an icon of hope and change in a despairing world,” Shettima noted.
He assured the Malala Fund of the Federal Government’s partnership with the organisation for the greater good of Nigeria.
In separate remarks, the UNDSG, Mohammed and Co-Founder of Malala Fund, Yousafzai, commended the Federal Government for their efforts in promoting goals 4 and 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals, observing progress in the areas of gender equity and education of girls across the country.
Speaking to State House Correspondents, the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Malala Yousafzai, urged governments at all levels to ensure every child has access to free and quality education up to secondary level.
She said: “I would ask here in Nigeria that all governments of states, all party members make commitment to ensure that every child in Nigeria has access to a complete education, which includes senior secondary education as well; that every child has access to free and quality education and the second I ask is that we make full financial commitment to ensure that no child is left behind in this country.”
In 2015, the United Nations officially designated July 12 as International Malala Day after the Pakistani activist. This year’s theme is tagged, Addressing a decade of work for girls’ education
Asked the purpose of her visit to Nigeria said: “I am here in Nigeria to celebrate my 26th birthday. Since my UN speech at age 16 I have been going around the world meeting girls from different parts of the world and raising awareness about the issues that girls face.
“We know that there are more than 120 million girls who do not have access to education right now and just as people spoke out about my education I want them to think about the education of other girls as well.
“In Nigeria, I’m here because girls education is important here. It will determine the future of Nigeria. So, I’m here because I want to bring attention to those issues. I’m here to speak as well and share my thoughts with the communalities, and also lucky that I was able to meet girls in Abuja.
“I was also able to go to Borno State and meet incredible girls, visit their schools and also meet the education activists. It is the work of the education activists, girls and civil society and government that gives us hope that we can have a better future for education of all children, especially girls here. I was very lucky that I had the meeting with the vice president and he gave us his time; he gave us his support.”
On what other countries should learn about the education of the girl-child in Nigeria, Malala said: “I have been to Nigeria three times. I came here in 2014 to show solidarity to the Chibok girls who had been abducted and I was able to meet their parents as well. I came here again in 2017 and I saw more of the work that activists are doing and I met girls. I’m here again and I have seen how much has changed in the past few years and it is because of the commitment of government officials and also the work of the civil society and education activists and the determination of girls.
“I was able to meet girls and hear from them directly how they are standing up for their rights. They are not remaining silent. They want a better education; they want quality education for themselves. So, that is what gives me hope and that is what brings me to Nigeria and I think that tells us that the future of Nigeria is bright if you give girls a chance and if you invest in their education.”
On the importance of Malala’s visit, the UNDSG, Mohammed said: “Ten years ago, Malala made her speech at the UN. She is the UN Peace Messenger. This time around she decided on her 10-year anniversary she wanted to make the advocacy for education here in this country. We have large number of out-of-school children.
“We know that the quality of education is not what every child should have in this country and an advocacy to an administration that is coming in; that believes in education is an important timing.
“So, her voice, her inspiration, not just to government, but the rest of society, to governors that we met yesterday, is extremely important as this administration begins its journey of the next four years.”
Amongst members of the delegation were the UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Matthias Schmale; the Executive Director, UN Office of Partnerships Ms. Annemarie Hou; the Special Assistant to the DSG, Ms. Hadiza Elayo; the Senior Advisor to the Resident Coordinator, Mr Frederic Eno, and Co-Founder Malala Fund, Mr. Ziauddin Yousafzai.
Credit:Source link
