The founder of a Non-Governmental Organisation, DROMI Initiative, Dr. Rhoda Makinde has stressed the need for government to put in place stringent laws to discourage child marriage.
Dr. Makinde spoke at an event tagged, “The Girl-Child, Our Pride”, which took place at the Oba Adesanoye Civic Centre, Ondo in Ondo State.
Over 2,000 female students from different public and private secondary schools attended the epoch-making event.
DROMI is an organisation dedicated to women’s economic empowerment and development, as well as girl-child development.
Dr. Makinde in her speech, said, “child marriage is still something we need to advocate against continually. Girls between the ages of 13 and 15 experience bullying in unprecedented ways.”
She added that, statistics showed that several wrong things are constantly being perpetrated against the girl-child and must be protected at all cost.
According to her, all mothers should not rest until every girl-child is considered in the plans of the country.
Dr. Makinde noted that everything should be done to give the girl-child qualitative education from primary to tertiary level.
She said, “God has blessed the girl-child with unparalleled empathy and listening skills. Unlike our male children, who sometimes act carelessly, we can take in much from siblings, parents and people around us to cater better to the needs of society.
“Imagine a home without a mother! We are a necessity in this world, and we need to know it all started right from when we were born as a girl, nurturing our potential and later giving back to the community in remarkable ways.
Girls are the ones who will grow up and raise families and lead our country forward”.
She also condemned the killing of Deborah Samuel in Sokoto State, saying such act is uncalled for.
Dr. Makinde called for stringent action to forestall a repeat of such act.
“Recently, very bad and disheartening news reached us all, about a young lady, who was studying in the far North-Western part of this country. On Thursday, the 12th of May, 2022, Deborah Samuel was stoned, flogged and burnt to death in Sokoto, after posting a message on the class group chat.
“We all pay our condolences to her family and hope for them to get the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss. This calls for more strict and actionable steps to be taken to protect the girl-child and women in our dearest country”, she explained.
