Gender-Based Violence: Nigerian Children Storm Offices of Minister Of Women Affairs, Education

Nigerian children on Monday took over the offices of the ministers of women affairs and education to demand digital opportunities for girls and an end to Gender-Based Violence (GBV).

The children made their demands known while occupying the seats of the ministers for 30 minutes as part of activities to mark the 2021 International Day of the Girl-Child (IDGC).

Nana-Firdausi Bashir, a 12-year-old girl from Kebbi, who acted as the Minister of Women Affairs, said that the inclusion of girls in the digital space would promote their zeal to reach their potential, fight Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and other harmful practices affecting girls.

Bashir said, “all hands must be on deck to address the issue of girl-child education, end child marriage, Female Genital Mutilation, sexual abuse, child trafficking for a prosperous Nigeria, leaving no girl behind.”

The acting minister urged the government to ensure that girls accessed digital skills to enable them to be conversant with technology and access information that would help them.

She also urged the government to “support safe spaces for girls in school, support mentoring and life skills to girls and the use of technology as a solution to address GBV.”

According to her, the theme of the 2021 IDGC “Digital Generation-Our Generation; Digital Revolution: Not Without Girls” is apt within the context of the gender divide and low transition to secondary education against Nigerian adolescents girls.

She added that “gender and social norms constitute major reasons why girls are not transiting and not accessing digital skills.

“There is a huge gender divide in access to digital literacy in favour of boys. Digital revolution, therefore cannot be without girls.’’

Also, the acting minister of state for education, Dorcas Joshua from Adamawa, stressed the need for a safe space for women and girls, support mentoring and life skills for girls.

Joshua also called for the provision of mechanisms for school safety to check insecurity in the learning environment, using technology to address GBV.