Why give a 14-year-old girl free condoms when she is not sexually active and can barely purchase any menstrual pads for her menstruation, which happens every month without fail?
Public health interventions have been lifesaving across Africa. In this article, I do not seek to diminish the value of condom distribution programs; they have played a crucial role in reducing sexually transmitted infections and supporting family planning across communities. However, condoms remain a choice-based product, while menstrual products are need-based, particularly for adolescent girls who are the subject discussed herein.
For adolescent girls living in low-income communities, it becomes a misplaced priority to ensure free access to condoms while they continue to struggle to obtain something as fundamental as menstrual pads. Menstruation is not optional; it is not a choice. For girls, it is a fact of life, something that not even abstinence can stop. It is not a behavior to be encouraged or discouraged; it is a natural biological process that requires dignity, privacy, hygiene and support.
In many developed countries, secondary schools are equipped with proper restrooms and government-funded free menstrual products. That is how you recognise a society that prioritises the protection and well-being of the girl child; by ensuring her most basic health needs are met without shame or struggle.
Bringing it home to our dear country, Nigeria, according to UNICEF, 37 million women and girls in Nigeria suffer period poverty due to the lack of access to and the unaffordability of menstrual products. Beyond this, many schools, especially public ones, lack basic menstrual-supportive infrastructure such as gender-segregated toilets, running water, waste disposal systems, and private spaces for girls to manage their periods with dignity. (Orebiyi& Emmanuel, 2023)
We must understand the intergenerational and intersectional consequences of this reality. The World Bank reports that, as of 2024, girls and women accounted for approximately 49.4 per cent of Nigeria’s population. When nearly half of a nation’s population faces a challenge that affects their education, emotional development, religious participation, social confidence, mental stability, and physical health, it is no longer a minor issue; it is a national urgency.
The continued neglect of menstrual health in policy conversations is no accident. In fact, it is a by-product of profound gender imbalance in Nigerian governance and leadership spaces, which was also caused by these same challenges; it’s a vicious circle. Decisions are often made in rooms where women are barely represented, and therefore, the everyday realities of the girl child remain unseen, unheard, unmentioned and unprioritised. Sometimes, only those who have lived the struggle truly understand it.
This is why Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State deserves recognition as a progressive example. On September 20, 2025, he launched the “Pad A Girl” Initiative at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, to provide free menstrual products to over 40,000 female students across tertiary institutions in the state. (Kaduna Government and Uba Ambassadors Launch Free Pads Initiative For Women, 2025) This is what responsive governance looks like: a leadership that recognises dignity as a right, not a privilege.
We look forward to a Nigeria where the girl child does not have to choose between a dignified period experience and her next meal. The economic hardships currently affecting our nation have made this struggle even more difficult. In just three years, the cost of menstrual products has skyrocketed from ₦250–₦500 to ₦750–₦1,500, in a country where 139 million citizens live below the poverty line. This is a clear call for government subsidies and intervention. While local partners and non-governmental organizations can make some level of impact, sustainable change requires government action.
At the Buluzo Foundation, we are a team of Gen Z changemakers committed to creating this change through menstrual product distribution, open menstrual health dialogue, policy influence, and advocacy. So far, we have provided pads to 1,303 girls across Abia, Lagos, and Plateau states. Our mission is simple: to ensure the next generation of girls experiences life as freely as their male counterparts, without the challenges of menstruation. Because menstruation is not a curse, nor a pause, it is a blessing.
Therefore, we are calling on the government to provide free menstrual products for girls in secondary schools. Ensure schools have safe spaces, clean and functional toilets, proper waste disposal systems, and running water to support girls during menstruation, so no girl ever has to miss a class or activity because of her period.
Introduce menstrual education into the school curriculum so that girls have access to accurate information about menstrual health, rather than relying on myths and superstitions, and boys can have a precise understanding of the topic. In public health spending, let us prioritise the urgent, continuous, biological, and natural needs; we choose Nature over Choice! A nation that cares for its girls cares for its future. Necessity.
Nwachukwu, is a Lawyer and Executive Director, Buluzo Foundation.
