Osinbajo meets 1,000 school girls over poor education, discrimination

By Mariam Sanni, Abuja

The wife of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo, is set to meet with 1000 schoolgirls drawn from private and public schools nationwide to discuss issues of gender discrimination including access to education, sexual harassments and violence.
It was learnt that Osinbajo will be meeting the girls in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, as part of the activities of the International Day of the Girl-child in Nigeria, under the theme, “Empower girls: Before, during and after the conflict.”
The meeting, scheduled for the coming week, is being organised by the National Centre for Women Development of the Ministry of Women Affairs in collaboration with the Office of the Wife of the President.
The Director-General of the NCWD, Mrs Mary Ekpere-Eta, in a statement released said some 150 schoolgirls would be taken through a session on skills development, while the National Gender Action Plan would be inaugurated during the meeting by the Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, and the Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Aisha Abubakar.
Ekpere-Eta said, “An empowered girl-child, no doubt, holds the key to the current challenges facing the Nigerian society. Thus, in her formative and later years, all resources should be harnessed to enable her attain her full potential. Of the estimated one billion young people who include 600 million adolescent girls that are likely to enter the workforce in the next decade, more than 90 per cent of those living in developing countries are most likely to end up in the informal sector.
“This sector is largely characterised by exploitation, abuse, low wages or no pay at all. As part of activities for the day of the girl-child this year, there will be a skills development session for 150 girls. Also, there will be a special session for 1000 young girls from different private and public schools with the Wife of the Vice President, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo.”