Summit To Tackle Terrorism , Other Threats To Girl Child Begins In Abuja

Against the backdrop of the kidnap of over 200 school girls from the Chibok community in Borno state over six months ago and various threats to the education and emancipation of the girl child in Nigeria, a pivotal conference on how to tackle the challenges comes up in Abuja on Monday 13th October, 2014.
In a pre-summit briefing Thursday in Abuja, the Director General of the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), Lady Onyeka Onwenu said the two-day summit would underline several efforts by government in removing all barriers that limit the growth and development of women and in particular girl child education in the country.
The summit being held under the auspices of the First Lady, Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan,the NCWD and Friends Africa, a non-governmental organization will discuss the strategic importance of the girl-child to the development of the society and the nation and will engage key stakeholders in Girl child education in Nigeria. It aims to come up with effective strategies and a programme of action to curb situations that threaten the ultimate success and well-being of the girl child.
Lady Onwenu harped on certain identified challenges notably terrorism, kidnapping, trafficking, gender inequality, discrimination, gender-based violence and outdated cultural practices such as female genital mutilation, and early child marriages adding that these had to be tackled if the girl child is to prosper in the country.
The summit will be attended by participants from all over the country and international institutions such as UNICEF and UNFPA. Areas of particular focus will include Education, Health, Economic Empowerment, Security and Gender-based Violence amongst others.