Niger Government in collaboration with Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) Project has called for an end to child marriage.
The also stressed the need to increase investment in girls’ education and rights
The call was made on Friday in Minna during the commemoration of the 2026 International Day of the Girl Child at Day Secondary School, Minna.
Speaking at the event with the theme: “End Child Marriage and Invest in Girls’ Rights”, the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mrs Hadiza Mohammed, urged parents, community leaders and other stakeholders to provide the necessary support to enable girls to realise their aspirations.
Mohammed said investing in girls’ education was crucial to empowering them to contribute meaningfully to societal development.
She called for collective efforts to eliminate barriers to girls’ education and create an environment where every girl could access quality education and achieve her full potential.
In her remarks, the AGILE State Coordinator, Mrs Maimuna Tahir, identified child marriage, harmful traditional beliefs and insecurity as major barriers preventing girls from accessing and completing their education.
Tahir described the celebration as a call to action for stakeholders to intensify efforts to address these challenges and create a safe, inclusive and supportive environment for every girl to learn and thrive.
She highlighted the project’s interventions in Niger, aimed at improving girls’ access to education, promoting school retention and equipping them with relevant life skills.
According to her, the interventions include the renovation of more than 300 schools, the establishment of 110 life-skills and vocational centres for married girls, and conditional cash transfers to more than 8,000 women and girls.
She added that the project had also provided gender-based violence support services and trained teachers to improve the quality of education and promote a more supportive learning environment for girls.
The coordinator emphasised that sustained collaboration among government, parents, traditional and religious leaders, and development partners was essential to eliminating harmful practices that hinder girls’ educational advancement.
She urged stakeholders to strengthen efforts to protect girls from child marriage and other forms of abuse while ensuring that they had equal opportunities to pursue their education.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event featured lectures, drama, debates and poetry presentations by students to raise awareness on girls’ rights, the importance of education and the need to protect them against child marriage.
Participants collectively reiterated the need for united action to address the challenges facing the girl child.
The celebration underscored the importance of sustained investment in girls’ education and protection as essential measures towards building an inclusive society where every girl could learn, thrive and contribute to development.(NAN)
