Six Million Girls Lack Access to Education in Nigeria, Says Ekiti First Lady

The First Lady of Ekiti State, Mrs. Bisi Fayemi, on Thursday bemoaned the increasing number of out-of-school children in the country.

She said available statistics indicated that the girl children accounted for over six million out of the 10.5 million children that lack access to formal education in the country.

Revealing also that women political representations at the National Assembly and other levels of were abysmal, Mrs.  Fayemi predicted that with the gradual conscious efforts being made to sensitise women, she foresees a better representation in the future elections.

Fayemi stated this yesterday while  delivering the fifth distinguished lecture  entitled: 'Clapping With One Hand: 'Female Education, Leadership and the Quest for National Development’, at the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo City, Ondo State.

The wife of the state governor, according to a copy of the lecture made available to journalists in Ado Ekiti, said the level of insecurity in the North-east region of the country and incessant  kidnapping of children and young girls had affected education of many children, and these, she said, would have a dire implication on the future of Nigeria.

She added that despite their successes and achievements, millions of women and girls still suffer from feminisation of poverty, lack of access to basic resources, diseases, violent conflict and the complex use of culture, religion and tradition, which have made the female gender voiceless in the society.

"The activities of the Boko Haram have had a devastating effect on millions of citizens, especially women and children. Their education had been affected so badly that the effect will be felt for many years.

"Nigeria currently has one of the highest rates of out-of-school children which statistics pegged at 10.5 million with female accounted for 60 percent of them.

"There are also 1.9 millions of Nigerians living in Internally Displaced Camps (IDPs) around the country and over one million of them are women and girls, with the attendant risks this poses," she said.

The First lady added: "If you look at the configuration of the National Assembly since 2011, women representation has always been very bad and this has not given women the opportunity to participate in setting legal framework that regulates governance.

"It was better in 2011, dropped in 2015, but became worse in 2019. These shouldn't discourage us from continually demanding our rights."

She revealed that women had been in the receiving end of government's inept disposition and lack of political will to implement laws like gender-based violence prohibition law, equal opportunities law, girl-child law among others to put the female folk in a safety net.

On why women have not gained recognition in the Nigerian society, Fayemi said: "Crimes against women are on the increase as well as gender violence, rape, trafficking, sexual exploitation, discrimination, kidnapping among others. All these make the atmosphere very unsafe for women.”

In a bid to rout these  impediments, the first lady called for holistic  implementation and enforcement  of relevant laws that tend to tame gender inequality and promote women's interest to enhance their relevance in all sectors.