Child Marriage: Let’s change the narratives, SCI officials task stakeholders in Gombe
Officials of the Save the Children International have tasked stakeholders in Gombe state to strengthen advocacy towards changing the negative narratives around girl-child education and early child marriage in the state.
Save the Children International being a child protection organisation is implementing a three-year project (2018-2021) in Katsina and Gombe states, titled: “Towards Ending Child Marriage (TECM).
Edith Gumut, the Project Manager of TECM gave the charge on Tuesday in Gombe while interacting with the media and other stakeholders on the state of the girl-child in the state.
Gumut’s call is coming days after the SCI’s report that 78 per cent of girls in Northern Nigeria marry before the age of 18 with the North West and North East regions having the lion share of that frightening statistics.
By that statistics, the country records as one of the highest rate of child marriage globally.
In the report titled; “State of the Nigerian Girl Report- An incisive Diagnosis of Child Marriage’’, SCI called for the provision and full implementation of policies and strategies to end child marriage.
Gumut while responding to issues raised by stakeholders during the interactive session with SCI officials said getting the government to do the needful was a matter of advocacy which according to her is the responsibility of everyone.
She called for the engagement and empowerment of Gombe state children parliament to bring changes in that regard, adding that the first call to action was advocacy.
Gumut urged the stakeholders to use the opportunities created by the government in declaring a state of emergency in education to hold her accountable. “they have declared state of emergency, let’s continue hammering on that until we see results.’’
On the issue of girls with disabilities, Gumut called on stakeholders to ensure the prioritization of such girls in programme implementation by any partner implementing projects or programme in the state, adding that when such girls are educated, they are more empowered.
She stated that the education of the girl-child and children generally must not be sacrificed on the altar of child labour, poverty or any other excuse for keeping children in the streets during school hours.
On his part, Mr Akpan Effiong, SCI’s Community Engagement and Advocacy Coordinator charged stakeholders to strengthen awareness to ensure that the child rights act was domesticated in the state.
Effiong while giving the objectives of the meeting said girl-child education as well as the implementation of policy towards ending early child marriage in the state was the collective responsibility of all stakeholders.
Mr Alhassan Yahya, the Executive Director, Saif Advocacy Foundation tasked all stakeholders to set agenda towards challenging the government on the state of emergency on education in the state.
Yahya stated that in spite the state of emergency, the reality had not reflected such as a lot of children were still being found in the street while performance at the external examinations were still not encouraging.
