Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima has given an assurance that the Bola Tinubu administration is committed to the issues of girl-child education and gender empowerment.
Shettima further assured that President Tinubu will also promote same issues in the policies and programmes of the federal government, under his watch.
The Vice President, according to a release issued on Wednesday by Director of Information in his office, Mr Olusola Abiola,
stated this in his remarks while playing host to a delegation from the United Nations, led by the UN Deputy Secretary-General (UNDSG) and Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, Mrs Amina Mohammed.
Mohammed was accompanied on the visit by the Co-Founder Malala Fund, Ms. Malala Yousafzai and other officials.
Shettima reiterated President Tinubu’s commitment to issues of 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 4 and 5 will be vigorously pursued by the present administration. President Bola Ahmed 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.”
The Vice President then commended the UNDSG and the Co-founder of Malala Fund for their efforts in promoting girl-child education among other initiatives.
“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 as an icon of hope and change in a despairing world,” Shettima noted.
He assured the Malala Fund of the Federal Government’s partnership with the organization for the greater good of Nigeria.
Earlier in their separate remarks, the UNDSG, Amina Mohammed and Co-Founder of Malala Fund, Malala Yousafzai, commended the Federal Government for their efforts in promoting goals 4 and 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals, observing progress in the areas of gender equity and education of girls across the country.
Speaking to newsmen after the meeting with the President, Mrs Mohammed, said she came around with Ms Yousafzai so her story and influence could be exploited to strengthen education, especially for the girl-child in the country.
Her words: “Ten years ago, Malala made her speech at the UN. She is the UN Peace Messenger. This time around you decided on her 10-year anniversary she wanted to make the advocacy for education here in this country. We have large number of out-of-school children.
“We know that the quality of education is not what every child should have in this country and an advocacy to an administration that is coming in; that believes in education, is an important timing.
“So, her voice, her inspiration, not just to government, but the rest of society, to governors that we met yesterday, is extremely important as this administration begins its journey of the next four years”.
On her part, Malala Yousefzai, said her message to the Nigerian government is a call for free and quality education for every child in the country.
“I would ask here in Nigeria that all governments of states, all party members make commitment to ensure that every child in Nigeria has access to a complete education, which includes senior secondary education as well; that every child has access to free and quality education and the second I ask is that we make full financial commitment to ensure that no child is left behind in this country”, she said.
Deji Elumoye in Abuja
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