Only four per cent of kano, jigawa girls finish SS3

by Igwe Jude, Abuja  August 18, 2021 Education Coordinator, EU-UN Spotlight Initiative in Nigeria, Hadiza Dorayi, has said only four per cent of girls in Kano and Jigawa states complete secondary education.

×The development, which she described as “quite unfortunate”, is responsible for child marriages in the country.Dorayi said this during a panel discussion at the Determined, Aspire, Re-Imagine and Express (#DARE2021) conference, organised by YouthHubAfrica, a civil society in Abuja.The pan-African conference with the theme: “Expanding Margins” focused on sexual and gender – based violence (SGBV), education, early marriages and culture with regards to women and girls in society.The conference was geared towards ending SGBV against women and girls in Nigeria and Africa.Dorayi said: “I come from a region, the Northwest; specifically if you look at my state – Kano, Jigawa states, we have only four per cent of girls completing secondary education. It is very unfortunate, in fact I don’t know how many people in Abuja will even believe that there is such a statistics. Go and check it out.

 “It is quite unfortunate that we have this level of figure that has a direct linkage with child marriage. ‘’When girls are not in school they become a liability to their parents who most likely will marry them off so that they can transfer the liability of taking care of these children to somebody they call a husband.“A girl that is fully educated at least at the basic level has a lot of advantages within the society.”Dorayi, noted that girls who are not in school are vulnerable to early marriage because they become a “liability” to their parents who then marry them off.

“The key is getting girls to complete their education so that they can benefit themselves, their families, children, their communities, and society,” the EU – UN Spotlight Initiative national coordinator added.Executive Director of YouthHubAfrica, Rotimi Olawale called for the continuation of programmes and initiatives designed to support young women in the country.