Girl-Child Day: Young professionals want end to circle of violence

By Stanley Onyekwere

As the country joined the United Nations in the celebration of the girl child, this year, a Citizens Advice and Support Network of young professionals, Team Jonathan Global Initiative (TJGI) , has stressed the  need to empower the girl child with knowledge and skills, as a panacea to ending the circle of violence against them.

The Young professionals, who celebrated the Day with road show in Abuja, at the weekend, noted that when the girls are empowered, it would ensure they have options they need to reach their potentials.

Recall that on December 19, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare 11 October as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.  It is an initiative to bring awareness to the Global world to help, support and provide more opportunities for girls.

TJGI however noted that while there has been significant progress in improving girls’ access to education over the last two decades, many girls, particularly the most marginalized, continue to be deprived of this basic right.

According to the executive coordinator of the Initiative, Prince Shield Nwazuruahu, this year’s theme: ‘Empowering Adolescent Girls:

Ending the Cycle of Violence’, wouldn’t have come at a better time.

“It is overwhelmingly important that we as parents and citizens recognizes the importance of investing in and empowering adolescent girls, and of preventing and eliminating the various forms of violence adolescent girls experience.

“We want to sensitize policy makers, relevant governmental agencies, parents and the general public on the need to empower the girl child as a panacea to ending the circle of violence,” he stressed.

Continuing he noted; “Every great woman celebrated today was once a girl-child who had access to education that qualitatively shaped her transition from childhood to adulthood; from obscurity to prominence and from days of small beginnings to a future of great accomplishments.

“Educating the girl-child is one of the most important investments any country can make for its future. It empowers Girl-Children and women with the ability to insist on their rights, and become more profitably integrated into the society.”