Education
SOURCE: All Africa
Aisha Buhari, wife of Nigeria's president, has promised to advocate publicly for legislation against child marriage.
At an interactive session to mark this year's International Day of the girl Child, she told parents to keep their daughters in school for at least 12 years.
"No single girl will be left behind in my movement to get every girl into school," Buhari promised during an advocacy visit by adolescent girls.
Events to commemorate the Day of the Girl Child ended in Nigeria with Buhari inaugurated grand patron of the High Level Women Advocates for Girls Education in Nigeria.
The theme's focus, Power of the Adolescent Girl as a Vision For 2030, has challenged education authorities and the United Nations Children's Fund to focus of using education to transform and empower adolescent girls to overcome challenges that affect their lives and inhibit their prospects of advancement.
Surveys report low education rates among 20 million adolescent Nigerian girls, especially those in the lowest socioeconomic brackets.
And six out of 10 of more than 10.5 million children out of school are girls.
Data indicate that among other factors one reason for low enrollment and retention of girls in schools especially in the north is the lack of female teachers in the rural areas.
The Girls' Education Project, already in its third phase, and run by UNICEF, with funding from the UK Department for International Development and counterpart funding from participating states, aims to achieve one million enrollment of girls into school by the end of the year 2020.
The project is currently running in five states-Bauchi, Katsina, Niger, Sokoto and Zamfara.
It is estimated the project has help enrol an additional 360,000 girls in primary school since 2012 across the five states.
"Adolescent girls should be empowered through deliberate policies to transform their lives and those around them.
The fund said investing in high quality girls' education prepares girls for life, jobs and leadership.
"Young girls who are educated are better placed to improve their own and their children's health and chances of survival, and boost their work prospects", said Jean Gough UNICEF Representative in Nigeria.
"It directly translates into the girls being powerful and positive change agents of development."