The future of the nation is determined by how the current crop of younger generations are groomed and treated, especially with the current social decadence. Grooming the younger generation however is becoming an uphill task. And as such, we are specifically concerned about the girl child. The future woman is the present girl today, therefore, how the future woman would look like would be determined by how the current girl is being treated and groomed.
In Nigeria, the girl child has been on the receiving end of discrimination and deprivation. In some culture, the girl child is married out early while some are deprived of formal education. We are not only calling for a total end to deprivation and discrimination that the girl-child suffers but taking bold steps to counter it would go a long way to protect the interest and future of the girl-child.
Parents should be at all-time ready to hear out their children especially the girl-child because the gender is emotional sensitive and tender. They crave for love and attention and when such is not gotten from the appropriate quarters, they seek for it with desperation anywhere else.
Giving attention to the girl-child is not only the responsibility of the parents, just as it takes a village to raise a child, it is the collective responsibility of the community to take care of the girl-child. From the teacher to the religious leader, the onus lies of them to ensure confidence and appropriate character.
The government on its part should ensure that policies that stimulate ease of living in the country are formulated and executed. This would ensure that the urge to send the girl-child from the rural settings to the urban center to make ends meet.
We are aware that there is a National Gender Policy aimed at eliminating gender discrimination, promoting political, economic and social opportunities in the public and private sector for women in Nigeria. More also, the adoption of a programme on Stop-Violence Against Women in Election (VAWIE) which is aimed at mitigating violence against women and demonstrating the link between gender-based electoral violence and reduced participation of women in the political landscape.
Programmes like this at the national level should move beyond paper works and begin to have concrete impact on the girl-child while states and local government are encouraged to implement cascading policies of government. Where necessary, state government should pass laws that would protect the interest of the girl child.
