By Lawal A. Dogara, Kaduna
A Non Governmental Organisation, Women Connect Initiative on Wednesday gave scholarship to 20 girls and three boys.
Its Coordinator, Hajiya Murjanatu Suleiman-Shika made the disclosure at a one-day workshop organised by the NGO held at Unity School, Zangon Shanu, Zaria, Kaduna State.
The workshop which drew participants from different schools was meant to celebrate Oct. 11, the International Day of the Girl-Child.
The coordinator said the NGO focus its attention on girl-child and women as part of social responsibility toward national growth and development.
She said: “a girl-child needs to be given the necessary support to be educated, apart from that as an NGO, we also have skills acquisition programmes..
“The skills acquisition is meant to encourage the women to have something doing, because as a woman you need to have something doing to earn a living,” she said.
She said statistics had shown that about 130 million children were out of school globally, lamenting that a large number was realised in the North-East.
Presenting a paper entitled: “Prospect of Girl-Child in Northern Nigeria”, Dr Jamila Aliyu-Mohammed of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) described the day as very significant not only to girl-child but also to the society.
Aliyu-Mohammed, who is also the Coordinator of Prof. Aliyu Mohammed Foundation observed that without education hardly would a person achieve something in life.
She emphasised the adage: “When you educate a man, you educate a single person, but when you educate a woman, you educate the entire society.
“Remember, children usually come back from school with home work, who can assist the them if the wife is not educated?
In her speech, the Principal, Unity School, Hajiya Rabi’atu Suleiman thanked the NGO for what she described as a good gesture towards societal development.
The Principal attributed the proliferation of Almajiris in Northern Nigeria to inability of some mothers to acquire western education.
