Some women in Lagos on Monday urged the Federal and State Governments to enforce law that guarantee safety of the girl-child in the society.
They made the plea at the commemoration of 2020 International Day of the Girl-Child organised by the Society for Youths Advancement and Creativity (SHACO) in Badagry.
The theme of the event was: Empowering the Girl-Child for a Brighter Future.
In her remarks, Ms Oluwayemisi Mafe, a Public Consultant, said that a girl-child was currently facing the issue of molestation in the country.
From left to right and centre, you hear of a girl-child being molested somehow by some family members and some by her neighbours.
So, I think we need to adhere strictly to the provisions of the law that guarantee their safety.
Actually, the law is there, but we need to find a way to ensure that law actually protect them.
When a rapist knows the consequence of his action or what he will face in the court, it will definitely checkmate him, she said.
Also, Mrs Oritoke Olasheu-Adele, a motivational speaker, urged the governments to empower the girl-child for a brighter future.
Empowerment is the key word, but our government is not getting it right; they thought that empowerment a girl-child is like giving her sewing machine, no, it goes beyond that.
It goes beyond learning the skill; they also need to be trained, to be groomed, and they also need to be educated.
There are policies that need to be relaxed so that we can have more women to participate in it, she said.
Commenting, Mrs. Sewede Pot-Balogun-Olufemi, the Coordinator, Badagry Women Forum, urged the girl-child to be focussed and determined for a brighter future.
Pot-Balogun-Olufemi also advised parents to train their female children to attain leadership positions in future and prevent them from indecent dressings.
In his remarks, Mr Mark Akande, the Founder, SHACO, said the event was to look at the challenges a girl-child was passing through and how it could be addressed.
We are looking at how our culture, tradition and political activities have actually affected the girl-child, and how we can reason together to find solutions to them, Akande said.
