Ministry launches ‘Status of the Girl-Child Report’, disseminates ‘Towards Ending Child Marriage’ campaign, laments underage marriage of girls.

Oru Leonard

The Honourable Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline K. Tallen, OFR, KSG has called for collective action to change the situation of girls in Nigeria in achieving No poverty, Zero Hunger, Good Health and Wellbeing as well as inclusive and equitable education and lifelong learning opportunities for all; which are Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

Dame Tallen laments that “Nigeria has the highest child marriage prevalence in Sub Saharan Africa with about 23 million girls and women married in childhood.” Also, she decried a situation like in 2015, where an estimated 6 million girls were married by age 15 and 36 million girls were married by age 18 nationwide; and Nigeria’s out-of-school population being the largest in the world with out of about 13 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, the majority being girls.

The Minister revealed regrettably further that only about 2% of 15–19-year-old married girls are in school, and three out of four married girls cannot read at all with premature pregnancy, indicators on maternal health, education, food security, poverty eradication, HIV/Aids and gender inequality are all negatively linked with child marriage.

The Women affairs minister brought up the aforementioned in her address at the launch of the “Status of the Girl-Child Report” and dissemination of “Towards Ending Child Marriage” campaign outcomes held on 11th November, 2021 at Fraser Suites, Central Area, Abuja. Dame Tallen further remarked that “most of the worst forms of violence against the girl-child are experienced in our communities”, found space to thank and commend the Governors’ wives “whose activities under the Coalition of Governors’ Wives have raised the bar” in the efforts to stem this tide of the vices against the girl-child which “have gripped the Nigerian society like a pandemic.”

Dame Tallen listed the efforts by her Ministry to rectify some of the challenges to the girl-child: “We have prioritized the issue of the Girl-Child which has resulted in the creation of a Girl-Child Division headed by a Deputy Director; the Ministry also launched the Campaign to Support Girl-Child Education in Nigeria; the goal being to adopt one strategy to achieve the provision of basic sanitary and hygiene facilities within schools and in communities where girls reside, as it is estimated that 1 in 10 girls stay out of school for an average of 48 to 52 days in a year due to their menstrual cycle.

The Honourable Minister further revealed that her Ministry has exceeded the one-Million Girls Pad Distribution campaign launched in commemoration of the World Health and Hygiene Day in May, 2020 with support from Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), Procter & Gamble, WaterAid, USAID, Soroptimist International and other partners buying into it.

Dame Tallen called on all stakeholders to key into the initiative of Emergency Sanitary Pad Bank project which consists of basic sanitary pads, panties, soaps and sanitizers that can support a girl-child to stay in school, even during her menstrual period.