Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, Nigeria’s minister of girls’s affairs, has joined forces with the Nigeria Affiliation of Girls Journalists to name for an finish to Sexual and Gender-Primarily based Violence (SGBV) towards girls in Nigeria.

The pressing attraction was made at a high-level occasion in Abuja on November 13, 2024, the place the minister emphasised the necessity for collective motion to guard weak youngsters and ladies from SGBV.

The occasion tagged, ‘Collaborative Pathways to Gender Equality and Girls’s Empowerment Roadmap,’ featured a cultural presentation highlighting dangerous practices towards girls and ladies. The minister and ladies journalists pressured the significance of unity and collective effort to realize their objectives.

This name to motion is especially important, given Nigeria’s alarming charges of SGBV.

In keeping with UNICEF experiences, 43 p.c of ladies in Nigeria are married off earlier than their 18th birthday, and 17 p.c are married earlier than they flip 15

The minister’s attraction is a vital step in direction of addressing these points and selling gender equality in Nigeria.

Sulaiman-Ibrahim, in her remarks, expressed need to be taught and work with girls teams, in addition to previous
omen Affairs ministers.

Her major purpose, she mentioned, “is to realize extra for girls, ladies, and males within the nation.”

The occasion featured a cultural presentation by the NAWOJ FCT, highlighting cultural practices dangerous to girls and ladies.

The presentation supplied options to the damaging practices because the minister emphasised the necessity for extra consideration on weak youngsters to guard them from SGBV.

Additionally talking, Bassey Ita Ikpang, chairperson, NAWOJ FCT, whereas talking on the quite a few challenges suffered by girls throughout completely different cultures in Nigeria, charged the ladies to be united to assist them obtain their visions.

She famous that with unity of goal within the NAWOJ FCT, they have been in a position to shatter the stereotype of solely males holding the chairmanship place within the union.

“For the primary time in 43 years, a girl, Grace Ike, emerged chairperson of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) FCT Council.”

Grace Ike, the newly elected chairman of the NUJ, FCT, emphasised the facility of unity amongst girls and inspired them to be intentional about their beliefs and work exhausting in direction of attaining their objectives.