Kaduna State Commissioner for Human services and Social development, Hafsat Baba, says it is important to address the issue of women giving their daughters to bandits for money.
Baba said this on Wednesday, at the 22nd meeting of the National Council on Women Affairs, which was held in Abuja.
Speaking as a panellist on girl child development and school safety, the Commissioner said parents who offer their daughters as house-helps and hawkers are contributing to the rate of out-of-school girls in the country.
According to the data from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 60 percent of the over 10 million out-of-school children in Nigeria are girls.
The Commissioner expressed concern over parents’ attitude towards ensuring the safety of their children.
“I see women even giving their children to the bandits, to go and sleep with the bandits in order to make money”, she said. “If you look at our streets, you will see them going about with their little bowls; and the most disturbing thing is that the children have now become the breadwinners of the family.
“Even apart from insecurity, we have these children on the street that hawk and engage in all sorts of menial jobs. Our young girls were being taken from their community, from their States to another to go and become baby nurses; they cook and sweep. This also stops them from going to school.
“If a child becomes the breadwinner of a family, what is the essence of the parents? What are the responsibilities of the parents?
“It is our collective responsibility to ensure that we keep our children safe. Safety is very key, both in school and at home. With the recent insecurity, it is now a wake-up call for us to be more vigilant as government, parents, community and religious leaders. Security is everybody’s business; without security, children cannot go to school”.
According to the data from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 60 percent of the over 10 million out-of-school children in Nigeria are girls.
