Girls across 17 countries have come together to develop a memorandum for their voices to be heard in the political, digital and educational spaces.
The girls spoke at the Launch of the Global Girls Summit 2022 Memorandum of Youth Participants which took place at the 2022 Global Girls’ Summit in Abuja on Thursday.
According to them, the memorandum will hold government accountable on their promises for girls and women inclusion.
The National Coordinator, Girls Get Equal, Miss Adokaji Odela, said that the group was partnering other institutions while pushing and advocating for girls and women voices to be heard.
“We were able to come together to develop a manifestos and speak on our problems and issues that surrounds almost every countries within the 17 countries.
“And most of those problems were actually pointing out to girls who were actually vulnerable in the digital space and who are actually limited through culture and lack of education as well as religion.
“In the memorandum, we were able to come up with these issues to hold the government accountable and liaise to provide safe and digital spaces for girls
“We want to hold the government accountable to implement those laws regarding women and girls like inclusion of girls and women in political space to ensure girls visibility and as well express themselves fully in decision making process.
“This is because decisions made oftentimes affect girls, so we want to hold government accountable in what they said they are going to do so that we are all equally involved,” she said.
Also, Miss Vanessa Akpelan, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Girls Power Initiative, Abuja Office, noted that that the girls were able to identify the key issues girls encountered.
“This memorandum is created by the girls for the girls and our voices are being heard at the grassroots level.
“We are going to give it to stakeholders and decision makers so they can use and implement this for girls voices to be heard.
“We are calling for more inclusion of women and girls in political space, digital space and the rest,” she said.
On his part, the Country Director, Plan International, Nigeria, Mr Charles Usie, said that the onus was on the leaders to advance children’s rights and equality for girls.
Usie, represented by the Director, Programme Quality and Innovation in the office, Mrs Helen Idiong, said he desired a level playing ground for girls and women in decision making process.
He added that the 35 per cent affirmative action for women in the National Assembly as promised was not enough but a level playing ground for political inclusion of women must be provided.
“Today’s activities started from 2022, where girls came together from 17 different countries to find a way around their issues.
“Plan International has supported that mobilisation and we work with them so that their voices can be heard.
“We discovered that when there are difficulties in security, poverty, the women and the girls are most affected.
“So, this is more or less finding a voice for the girls and women to be able to speak out.
“And this will also enable the government to pay attention to their plights,” he said.
He said that Plan International had created platforms and a lot of enlightenment for girls around the country which they had tapped into and were now spreading it to the grassroots.
He also said that the ‘He4She’ programme had been listed in the activities where the male would serve as champions in projecting the plights of girls and women
“In Nigeria like most African countries, there is a lot of patriarchy where the man is always right and at the top.
“So, the ‘He4She’ is having men as champions to understand what the girls are trying to do and not threatening them.
“That it is about collaboration and that the space is big enough for everyone.
“This is also to help break some of those harmful traditional practices and allow girls and women with potential to be who they want to be,” he added.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the memorandum identified issues surrounding among others, the implementation of already existing laws against terrorism.
Others include to prioritise internally displaced persons especially girls by making provision for good conditions and amenities as well as invest in education of the girls.
In the list is also the review of curriculum to include climate change teaching and learning in schools as well as review and implementation of curriculum for primary and secondary schools to meet current emergencies, among others. (NAN)