The United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) on Wednesday said over 4.7 million girls within the age bracket of 15-19 suffers physical and sexual violence according to statistics as at 2015.
UNFA stated this at the launch of the Adolecent Girl Child Initiative in Northern Nigeria which was held in Kaduna
This make up 28 per cent of the 17 million girls that falls between that ages while girls within the age bracket of 10-19, only 56.7 per cent have primary education and 45.7 per cent have secondary education.
Also, 11.6 per cent of the girls are married off at age 15 while 23 per cent of the girls between the ages of 15-19 suffers from teenage pregnancy resulting in maternal deaths of 30 per cents which is 576 deaths recorded per 100,000 births.
According to Mrs Bahijjatu Garko Bello of UNFPA and Dr Daniel Perlman of Centre for Girls Education (CGE) and population and Reproductive Health Initiative (PRHI) in their presentations at the launch, the need to educate the girl child cannot be over-emphasised.
UNFPA in partnership with Canadian Government and the CGE of PRHI is reducing the risks by expanding the possibility of adolescent girls to stay in school through the Adolescent Girls Initiative.
The initiative is UNFPA’s response to the challenges identified with adolescent girls in reaching their full potentials. It is an initiative where girls are enrolled from primary to secondary school and financially supported to stay in school and empowered beyond classroom.
In addition, the girls are enrolled in UNFPA safe spaces where they are supported with extra numeracy and literacy classes, vocational skills, reproductive and child health information that empower them to better perform in school and also in their adult life.
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