President Muhammadu Buhari has stressed the need for Africa nations to treat education, especially for girl-child as part of human right that must be pursued with vigour.
He declared: “Education should not be seen as a government programme only, but as a human right and a social imperative.”
The President, who declared open today, Thursday, in Abuja, the 73rd Session of the Executive Committee and the 41st Conference of Speakers of the African Parliamentary Union, noted that educating girls would increase the probability of having more women innovators, entrepreneurs and Chief Executive Officers.
He recalled that a few months ago, four girls from a high school in Anambra State, in South East of Nigeria, won the first prize for innovation at an international competition held in the United States of America.
“The success of these girls, some as young as 14, is a success for Africa as a whole. But more importantly, it is a demonstration of what can happen when the girl child is given the opportunity.”
Buhari is delighted that the focus of the APU Committee of Women Parliamentarians will be the promotion of girls’ education as a way to address early marriages, adding that this is another subject that requires close attention even as he assured them of the support and cooperation of the government of Nigeria.
