From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
The Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) and stakeholders have called for increased investment in the education of female children and protection against child marriage.
The Project Coordinator in Ekiti State, Mrs Yewande Adesua, and the stakeholders made the call during the 2026 International Day of the Girl Child celebration, with the theme, “End Child Marriage and Invest in Girls’ Rights,”
held at Government College, Oye-Ekiti, where she disclosed that no fewer than 203 public secondary schools in the state, comprising 2,808 students have benefitted from its Conditional Cash Transfer programme.
According to Adesua, other interventions carried out by AGILE, a World Bank-assisted project run by the Federal Ministry of Education in Nigeria.
and commissioned to improve secondary education opportunities and outcomes for adolescent girls, included the renovation of over 1,468 classrooms, supply of 4,202 computers, alongside smartboards, to beneficiary schools. She added that 130 schools had received solar-powered systems and internet connectivity.
The Project Coordinator also disclosed that 37 girls had graduated from the Second Chance Education programme, with 13 trained in hairdressing and 24 in fashion designing.
An SS3 student and Executive Director of the Centre for Gender Space Initiative, Oreoluwa Ojo-Olusegun, urged parents and stakeholders to give girls a voice in decisions affecting their future.
She condemned child marriage and gender stereotypes, insisting that girls deserved equal access to education, skills acquisition and leadership opportunities.
Ojo-Olusegun, who illustrated the dangers of forced marriage through a drama presentation, urged parents to listen to their daughters, respect their aspirations and provide support when their rights were threatened.
Another student, Ajayi Adeshewa of St. Augustine Comprehensive High School, Oye-Ekiti, identified poverty, harmful cultural practices and gender inequality as factors fuelling child marriage.
She called for investment in education, life skills and safe spaces to equip girls to make informed decisions.
Barr Ruth Oluwaleke of the New Initiative for Social Development stressed the need to protect children under the Child Rights Act, while Mrs Jumoke Omisore of FELA advocated improved access to sanitary pads, clean water and hygienic school toilets.
This year’s theme highlighted the need for sustained efforts to protect girls, keep them in school and empower them to determine their future.
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