Vice President Kashim Shettima on Wednesday assured of the Federal Government’s commitment to girl-child education and gender empowerment.
He said the President Bola Tinubu’s administration will promote policies and programmes to provide more opportunities for girls in the education sector.
Shettima gave the assurance when he received a delegation from the United Nations led by Amina Mohammed, the UN deputy secretary-general (UNDSG) and chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group.
Mohammed was accompanied on the visit by Malala Yousafzai, co-founder of Malala Fund and Pakistani Nobel laureate, among others.
The vice president reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to education and empowerment of women, noting that “President Tinubu is fully and unequivocally committed to the girl-child education and gender empowerment initiatives.”
According to him, “the SDGs goals four and five will be vigorously pursued by the present administration. Bola Tinubu is a passionate and committed advocate of girl-child education. He believes in the empowerment of our women. He believes that the prosperity, the respect of every society is directly proportional to the way they treat their women folk.”
Shettima commended Mohammed who is also co-founder of Malala Fund for their efforts in promoting girl-child education among other initiatives.
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“Amina Mohammed stands today as a symbol of hope for the African woman for her resilience, commitment and disposition and most importantly in her integrity. She is an oasis of hope in an unending ocean of poverty and depravity, while Malala is an icon of hope and change in a despairing world,” he said.
He assured the Malala Fund of the government’s readiness to partner with the organisation for the greater good of Nigeria.
In separate remarks, Mohammed and Yousafzai, commended the Nigerian government’s efforts in promoting goals four and five of the SDGs, observing progress in the areas of gender equity and education of girls across the country.
Malala, while speaking with State House journalists, said she was in Nigeria to use her 26th birthday to make a strong case for the girl-child education in Nigeria.
Malala had at age 16, took the world by storm when she addressed the United Nations General Assembly in aid of the girl-child education, after surviving Talibans persecution in Pakistan.
“We know that there are more than 120 million girls who do not have access to education right now and just as people spoke out about my education, I want them to think about the education of other girls as well.
“In Nigeria, I’m here because girls’ education is important here. It will determine the future of Nigeria. So, I’m here because I want to bring attention to those issues. I’m here to speak as well and share my thoughts with the communalities, and also lucky that I was able to meet girls in Abuja.
She said she was able to go to Borno State and met with various schools and education activists. She applauded the roles of education activists and civil society organisations for providing hope “that we can have a better future for education of all children, especially girls here.”
