Girl-Child Education: Group Seeks Govt Action Against Poverty, Early Marriage

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), in partnership with ActionAid Nigeria, has called for increased investment in girls’ education, stronger parental responsibility and government intervention to address poverty and other factors forcing adolescent girls out of school and into early marriage.

CITAD programme officer, Yesmin Salako, made the call at an event organised to commemorate the International Day of the Girl Child, with focus on ending child marriage and investing in the future of girls in Abuja, yesterday.

Salako said the project, funded by ActionAid Nigeria, works with 12 adolescent girls in rural communities, enabling them to identify challenges affecting their lives and lead advocacy efforts to address them.

She explained that child marriage emerged as one of the major concerns identified through research conducted by the girls themselves.

According to her, the girls subsequently visited representatives of their area council, including gender desk officers and the social welfare department, to seek intervention and request that parents be sensitised on the consequences of early marriage.

She said child marriage was undermining girls’ education and future prospects, adding that the reported 30 per cent school dropout rate in the community required urgent attention.

“Our goal is to ensure that no girl is left behind and that every girl has access to education, from the basic level to secondary school and tertiary education,” Salako said.
She also stressed the need to equip girls with digital skills, noting that technological advancement was creating opportunities that rural girls should not be excluded from.

Salako said CITAD planned to support the development of a digital resource centre where girls could conduct research, access computers and acquire skills in software development and other digital activities.

She, however, warned that such opportunities could remain out of reach if girls were forced into marriage before completing their education.

The coordinator identified poverty as a major factor driving early marriage, explaining that some parents who could not afford school fees and other educational expenses resorted to marrying off their daughters.

She said some parents also believed that investing in girls’ education was unnecessary because they would eventually leave their families to live with their husbands.

Salako added that teenage pregnancy and the fear of social stigma also contributed to early marriage, as some families sought to conceal unwanted pregnancies by arranging marriages for their daughters.

She urged parents to take responsibility for their children’s welfare, education and upbringing, stressing that parenting went beyond giving birth.

“Parenting is not just giving birth to a child. It also involves nurturing and training that child until they can stand on their own feet,” she said.

She further called on parents to pay closer attention to their children’s activities and protect them from rape, gender-based violence and other forms of abuse.

To extend the initiative’s impact beyond the communities directly covered by the project, Salako said CITAD was engaging neighbouring communities and using the media to publicise the challenges confronting rural girls.

She also called on the government to make basic education free or affordable to ensure that financial difficulties did not prevent children from attending school.

The community leader, Yahaya Alhassan, expressed support for the initiative, describing the campaign against early marriage as timely and important to the future of girls.

Alhassan said girls needed education to become professionals, including doctors, lawyers, nurses and other skilled workers who could contribute to their families and communities.

He pledged to continue sensitising residents against early marriage, while also drawing attention to the community’s infrastructure and security challenges.

According to him, some school buildings in the area had deteriorated, while the community also faced inadequate electricity and other basic amenities.

He commended CITAD for its interventions in the community, including the donation of an engine about a month before the event, and expressed appreciation for the organisation’s continued support for girls’ education.

Some adolescent girls Endurance Ishaku who participated in the programme said financial hardship, unwanted pregnancy and parental decisions were among the challenges preventing them from completing their education.

She said some parents could not afford school expenses, forcing their daughters to drop out.

She added that girls who became pregnant faced ridicule and stigma, which could further undermine their education and future opportunities.

Ishaku called for sustained engagement with community leaders and government officials to address the challenges, saying the girls were prepared to continue advocating for solutions through appropriate channels.

Another participant, Ezekiel S. Blesing, attributed early marriage partly to poverty and what he described as a lack of understanding among some parents about the importance of girls’ education.

He urged parents to prioritise their daughters’ schooling rather than marry them off because of financial difficulties or pressure from prospective husbands.

“Education is the key to success. Education is the best legacy,” he said, calling on CITAD and other stakeholders to intensify engagement with parents and encourage them to keep their daughters in school.