Challenges, Future Of The Nigerian Girl Child

DAY OF THE GIRL CHILD

As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to commemorate the International Day of the Girl Child, today, October 11, the pains, gains and future of girl child in our nation are brought to the fore. The annual celebration highlights issues concerning gender inequality facing young girls, and this year’s theme,The Power of the Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030, captures the essence of the campaign for better condition for them. The issues include rights to education/access to education, nutrition, legal representation, medical care; protection from discrimination; violence against women and child marriage.

However, it is pertinent to examine how Nigeria has fared in ensuring that these issues are tackled, even as gender activists and members of the civil society believe the Nigerian government has a long way to go in providing the right condition for the girl child to attain her full potentials, and needs to marshal out plans to get more girls into schools.

According to the Executive Director, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, government has not done enough in addressing issues concerning the girl child and needs to get more girls in schools.

According to her, “Nigeria still contributes to the highest number of out-of-school children. Looking at the dynamics of out-of-school children statistics, it is better to agree that it has a regional dimension. There seems to be a higher number in the northern part of Nigeria, particularly where the Chibok girls were kidnapped.
“Secondly, education leads to development and growth and, if we are not taking this seriously, it will impact on our growth. Some of the issues affecting girls are early marriage, early childbirth, poor sanitation and shortage of female teachers. If you do not have female teachers in schools, it might affect the girl child’s zeal to attend a school. It is just like not having a female doctor; girls might not want to open up completely to a male doctor.

There is also the issue of safety and security in schools; girls tend to suffer violence. From ages 15 and 24, about one out of every three girls have suffered violence one way or the other, either through sexual harassment, rape or incest. So it is important for the government to address the issue of sexual education, provide incentives for girls to complete in primary and secondary schools.
“If you want to negotiate with parents, who believe in giving their children out early for marriage, you must bring incentives, by ensuring that school fees are affordable or free, because it can deter parents from sending female children to school. By and large, it is the duty of the parents and the government to ensure that girls are educated because it will benefit everyone.”

The Executive Director, Centre for Corrections and Human Development, Mrs. Obioma Evelyn Agoziem, said that part of the challenges facing the girl child in Nigeria include gender discrimination, gender-based labour division, female mutilation, early marriage, lack of education and sexual abuse.
“Some areas in Nigeria are more associated with some of these issues than others. A girl child from the northern part of Nigeria is faced with more issues than her counterpart from the south. She has higher tendency of not going to school; it is very easy to give her out in marriage as early as age 11. This has exposed so many to Vesico-Vagina Fistula (VVF) problems and some are eventually ostracised because of the nature of the disease.
“The most common and worrisome issue of the girl child today is sexual abuse. The media is awash with scandalizing cases of sexual abuse in the homes, schools and hospitals. The girl child is exposed to constant abuse from those to them, like uncles, family friends, classmates, teachers and lecturers. Rape cases are already going out of hand. Some cultures, particularly in the Southeast, discriminate against the girl child from inheriting any landed property. She is always at the receiving end; there is hardly any tribe in Nigeria that the girl child is not discriminated against.”

A psychiatrist, Dr. Akhator Eneka, while commenting on the emotional effects society neglecting the girl child, said girls suffer from low self-esteem, when preference is often made to the boy child, particularly in the home.
“We need to make the girl child aware of illnesses that they can come down with later in life such as breast and cervical cancers; the ovaries, uterus and fallopian tubes are placed around each other and so at a certain age she should undergo some tests to protect herself from illnesses. Another pressing issue is rape; you hear of a two year old being molested by her father. That child grows up hating men, being a lesbian or having low self-esteem. However, a child who has been raped, is predisposed to certain diseases, including cancer and HIV/AIDS.”

On her part, the Executive Director of Echoes of Women in Africa (ECOWA), Mrs. Lousia Ono Eikhomun, said, “In the home, the girl child is influenced by the socialisation of boys being superior to girls, and made to come after a boy not minding if she is older. In the society, she is confronted with gender-based violence, peer pressure, from the influence of social media, to high societal expectations. In the rural areas, she is a victim of teenage pregnancy; in the north, she is a target of early marriage and, of course, recent cases of kidnapping have compromise girl child education and safety.”

A public health consultant, Dr. Shola Mole-modile, while noting that the country has made some progress in improving healthcare for children over the years, said the progress has been slow for several reasons as disparities still exist in access for male and female children. “The 2013 National Health Demographic Survey reports that female children were slightly less likely to have been taken to a health facility or provider for treatment than male children. The survey also showed that more male children were immunized with childhood vaccines than female children and four per cent more male children with symptoms of acute respiratory infections were taken to seek health advice. High illiteracy among women and young girls has been attributed to limiting their capacity to properly access information on health services to improve their lives.

However, the government and its development partners have plans in different areas of health service provision and delivery from nutrition, immunization, malaria and diarrhoeal diseases, among others, to improve life for the girl child. One specific example is the plan to introduce the Human Papilloma Virus vaccine to adolescent girls to protect them from cervical cancer in the future. This requires that funding for immunization is increased. While all children are absolutely important, the girl child is vulnerable and this necessitates special consideration.

Bearing in mind that the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030, which comes on the heels of winding down of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) programme, has provisions for the girl child, there is hope for improvement in the condition of the girl child in Nigeria.
For Dr. Akiyode-Afolabi, “We hope that the SDGs, which include the girl child and have a 15-year target, will be achieved at the end of the day. I think that there is more awareness about the girl child especially those affected by the Boko Haram insurgence and the vulnerability of these children.
“However, in terms of education, it has marginally increased; we are seeing states, like Gombe, in 2010, setting up laws to criminalise parents, who refuse to send their children to school. Other states are following suit. But then, there is a need to begin to think differently on the issue of the girl child, as tribal issues and neglect are evident in the larger society. That is why we have poor participation of women in the larger space. On the whole, there is increase in awareness and law formation, but implementation and enforcement is still very poor.”

Mrs. Agoziem, however, stressed that the practice of female mutilation has drastically reduced, as those still practicing it do so secretly, unlike in the past. “Many girls are going to school and even inheriting properties. There was a case brought to our group of a brilliant Hausa girl, who was withdrawn from school to marry few months to her WACE examination. The matter was followed up and eventually she was brought back to school. She was able to write her final exams. We are planning to specifically launch a sensitization campaign among the Hausa Community here in Lagos.

We want to encourage them to send their daughters to school. We are also discouraging parents to stop sending their girls to hawk; it exposes them unduly to men who might sexually abuse them. Using under-aged girls as house helps is reducing because of the laws criminalising it.
“The girl child needs protection. She is susceptible to attack from many angles, in the home, school, church, among groups, anywhere at all; she is a target. She needs sound education. If she understands her rights and privileges, it will help her not to be a tool in the hand of people. She needs to understand life development skills and more opportunities will be made available her. She needs more scholarships to further her education and adequate medical care.”

However, Mrs. Agoziem noted that the parents are the first custodians for girls, stressing, “The protection of the girl child is their primary responsibility. These days that some fathers are abusing their own daughters, mothers should be more vigilant. We should not give anything to chance. We must not trust our girls with anybody, not even brothers or home teachers. The baby girls should not be exposed; she must always be dressed, with their pants properly worn. The penalty for rape is life imprisonment. People will deter from such acts when they realized that it is real. Government should also create enabling environment for the girl child to excel. Above all, everybody should care for the welfare of the girl child.”
Mrs. Eikhomun added, “The family have a lot to improve the self esteem of the girl child and not undermine her great potentials, which has been the norm, from culture and tradition. The girl child is a winner anywhere if given the same opportunity as the boy child. She is as important as the boy child and should not be discriminated against.”