In every prosperously blazing society, girl child education is given topmost priority as it serves as a benchmark upon which generational literacy for hundreds and thousands of years to come will thrive without hitches. A girl child when grown will become a birth giver, a home maker, raiser of children in training, a home builder and many more.
The configuration of societal psychology towards the girl child must be that of making her responsible, disciplined, intelligent, precocitic and a shining star because to be a feminine is not a crime.
The Nigerian girl child has not experienced growth in the various phases of life as its obvious that culture has placed her in an echelon of no regard, ignominy and infamia.
Most of Nigerian cultures try to weaken the ability of the girl child by delegating feeble cognizance to their existence which in turn affects their economic, political, social and socio-cultural value to our common sovereignty and patrimony called Nigeria.
The idea of male dominance in every sphere of a Nation’s life is worrisome because the female folks in some instances have more sound reasoning intellect, fast logicality and apt prescriptions to issues of life in general. A girl child has constitutional rights to enjoy whatsoever the male folks are entitled to but it is obviously not obtainable in Nigeria.
This gender inequality and retrogression gave ample opportunity to the rise of a concept called FEMINISM. It’s a range of social movements , political movements , and ideologies that aim to define, establish, and achieve the political, economic, personal, and social equality of sexes. It was first launched in 19th to early 20th centuries by Charles Fourier, an Utopian Socialist.
As stated, Nigeria is not left of this struggle as it can be asserted that at different occasions, there were fights for gender equality concerning a million and one issues which in most times fall off into dustbins as the men at the helms of affairs are bent on their continual and continuous dominance.
It’s worthy to note Almajiri is the conceptual name for beggars, destitutes who are constantly on the streets in the Northern part of Nigeria with bowls fastened to their clothes with stretched hands, seeking for alms for survival.
Many of the these children are females as well who were born innocently by irresponsible fathers with the believe in multiplication of population without adequate thought for needs provision in time to come.
The disgusting part of this trend in Northern Nigeria and others is that of teenage pregnancy where a girl from 20 to 10 years of age gets pregnant for birth because the believe is that when a girl child goes to school, the fruits of the years in the academia will be reaped by her husband to be, so no need. Upon this premise, a female child should be subjected to only early marriage since her education be of no gain to her immediate home.
In December 2018, according to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Nigeria still has 10.5 million out-of-school children — the world’s highest number. Sixty percent of those children are in northern Nigeria.
About 60 percent of out-of-school children are girls. Many of those who do enroll drop out early. Truth be told, both unwanted and unwarranted pregnancies of teenagers are reasons behind the aforestated data.
Damilola Oyedele, on the 8th of August 2017, said that due to religious and cultural sensitivities, Nigerians live in denial of just how common teenage sex is. Quoting Demographic Health Survey (DHS) in 2013, she said that only three in ten women reported to first have had sexual intercourse at the age of 20 or later, while 54 % said they had done so before turning 18.
A stunning 24 % indicated that they had not even been 15 yet. These are a tip of iceberg of millions of similar cases where the Girl child is subjected to hard nuts of life in humiliation.
January 20th 2020, World Health Organization in a statistics opined that every year, an estimated 21 million girls aged 15–19 years in developing regions become pregnant and approximately 12 million of them give birth. At least 777,000 births occur to adolescent girls younger than 15 years in developing countries. This is uncalled for.
A major offspring from girl child pregnancy is abortion which has claimed many lives of innocent girls, this is out of illiteracy because an educated girl will be exposed to the consequences of early pregnancy through sex education.
There’s a philosophical statement which says, “educate a girl child, then you’ve enlightened generations to come”. This psychological slavery imputed into Nigerian girl child must come to a halt.
Teenage pregnancy leads to single parenting which in most cases ends in the inculcation of socially maladjusted behaviours in such children because the presence of a male folk in an environment where children are trained can’t be over emphasized as it makes the circle of parenting complete.
For this excesses to come to an end, the Federal Republic of Nigeria should urgently amend the 1999 constitution being used to permeate a new law that enforces birth control of all Nigerians. Every house hold ought to have a population that will not be beyond 4 to 5 and parents are expected to cater the for the children responsibly.
In implementation, Law enforcement agencies should be empowered to bring to book parents to defile such laws with appropriate discipline. Children who are seen on the streets begging be arrested for prosecution.
Our religious institutions need to teach their adherents on the need to give birth to children within the family strength. Family’s economic capacity should be the determinant force upon which birth number is decided. In other words, you must have the ability to train the number of children you give birth to.
There should be proper interpretation of scriptures both in Quran and the Bible, to avoid misleading people into acts that are capable of jeopardizing our peaceful coexistence through population outburst.
Also, the society shouldn’t make it appear like, it is right to bring up children as one likes because most of hooligans, kidnappers, cultists, armed rubbers are products of this trend, a responsible society is a product of well behaved citizenry.
Teenage or girl child pregnancy ought not to be celebrated any where in the world. It is societally unacceptable. The constitution of Nigeria has no divisional line between a male and female child, as such, the highest of all political offices should be accessible to a woman as it is to men.
World Health Organization need to speed up more actions on the enlightenment of female children in various kindergarten schools on the dangers of early pregnancies because when the foundation of a thing is well formed, it will withstand the test of time.
WHO through its various branch in Nations of the world should put more strength in fighting to establish a society where the Girl child can have a say like her male counterpart. The consequences of abortion should be exposed to them, including the implications of untamed sex life.
The political system in Nigeria also needs to accommodate more women in positions to serve as motivation to the girl child who’s still growing up to adulthood because to see positive happenings around one creates a permutation towards similar achievement.
For example, currently there’s no female Governor in all the thirty six States of the Nation, it sends a wrong signal to female children who are coming up.
In times of reported cases of girl child sexual abuse, The Court which is referred to as the temple of justice should stand firm on its integrity, as it is the last hope of the common man. Nobody, irrespective of name and fame should influence judgment against an abuser, such must face the full wrath of the law so it can serve as deterrent to others with similar intentions.
Justice should be served in right and accurate DOSAGE without fear or favour. With these, we will again have a gender sensitive society where we can all be equal.
– Chigboja Gideon writes from Kogi State.
gideonichigboja@gmail.com
