Children’s day: Uwais, Kwaku, Mahdi, Bulkachuwa, others harp education as bedrock of development
Chima Azubuike
Notable Northern women leaders on Saturday harped the importance of educating a girl-child, adding that such would ensure rapid development in the region and the country at large.
Speaking, Senior Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment Maryam Uwais, First female lawyer in Northern Nigeria to open her chambers; Fatima Kwaku, Secretary-General of Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative; Saudatu Mahdi, First female President Court of Appeal Zainab Bulkachuwa, called for resilience and confidence towards attaining success.
The speakers made this disclosure during a webinar with the theme; Girl Power: Defying all odds, stories of Northern Nigerian women leaders”, organised by Adda Girl Education Foundation in commemoration of children’s day.
Our correspondent reports that out of over 150 girls on its scholarship, mentorship, no fewer than 30 girls were drawn from Nafada, Akko, Balanga Local Government Areas to witness the virtual meeting.
Uwais on her part, while speaking on developing leadership skills and continuous learning, urged participants drawn from primary to tertiary to expand their scope of learning, adding that “things I learnt many years ago are useful to me now.”
She encouraged them to align their interests with their goals, stressing that they have control on how they react to issues.
“Embrace positive learning, research on various subjects especially in your areas of interests, so that you can learn how people tackled their problems. Develop resilience, confidence nobody knows it all. Seek to help other girls in your communities. Education will help you in your marriages, even as a house wife,” Uwais added.
While speaking on overcoming cultural and societal barriers to achieve success, Mahdi, said herself and siblings having attained the highest level of education are successful in life and marriages, adding that education should not be seen as encumbrance to becoming a submissive spouse.
She lauded various interventions of government to courage girl-child education, calling for more investment in training children especially girls.
Mahdi said, “Encourage girls around you, by mentoring them. There should be more investment in women and girls because exposure is not overnight.”
Kwaku, who presented on finding mentors and building a support network, called on families, communities and government to embrace both Islamic and Western education, adding that there was need for effective synergies.
She added, “Education is the greatest power a woman needs to defy the odds, to improve her welfare, family and Nation.”
Also, Bulkachuwa, who doubles as the Chairperson of ADDA Girl Education Foundation, expressed optimism that in the next few years the beneficiaries would offer similar help to their communities.
“In the next 10-20 years, my Adda girls will give helping hands to other girls,” Bulkachuwa said.
She commended six beneficiaries who came top in their classes, adding that the fruit of the foundation was beginning to manifest.
Programme Manager of Adda Girl Education Foundation, Samira Galadima, noted that the webinar was geared towards inspiring confidence in participants, adding that speakers were selected as successful women leaders who have overcome challenges to achieve success in their respective fields.
“We are currently at the stage where we need the resilience that we can get to be able to achieve our goals. Only an educated woman can make informed choices in her family, there is a likelihood that if I’m educated my children will be educated, grandchildren will be educated there is alot to be done,” she said.
Galadima commended the Chairperson for establishing the foundation saying that it has distinguished Bulkachuwa from her peers.
She said, “One of our strategies is also job placement we have started with one, we recently secured a job for one of our ADDA Girl’s in a secondary school. We identified the problem of lack female teachers in GGSS Pindiga, they have not had female teachers the reason we encourage our girls to study Education. We are not taking them away from their communities, they study, teach, marry in their communities thereby impacting their people.”
