Be passionate about girl issues, women urged

Wife of Ondo State Governor, Betty-Anyanwu Akeredolu has urged the older generation of women to jointly get involved in the cause of empowering girls.

She stated this while delivering her keynote address at the Winifred Hubbard lecture to mark the Egbu Girls Old Girls Association (EGOGA) maiden global reunion in Owerri, Imo State.

She said if older women took the responsibility of getting the next generation of women ready for a life full of innovation and impact, the nation would experience rapid development like other developed countries that invested in girl children.

“It is sad that up to this very moment, we continue to hurt ourselves badly as a nation by not investing in the girl-child. An investment in the girl-child is not only an investment that secures our nation’s future but one that also transforms our present state,” she said.

Mrs. Akeredolu in a statement by her spokesperson, Bola Olagbegi also avowed her readiness to continually foster the education of girl child in Nigeria, while highlighting some of her initiatives committed to the cause of women and girl child since 2009.

The Chairman of the occasion, former Minister of Aviation Minister, Dr. Mrs.

Kema Chikwe, commended the school for the confidence it instilled in its products.

Also speaking, the VicePresidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the last general election, Mr. Peter Obi corroborated Mrs. Akeredolu that everyone must be involved in the investment in girl child education.

He attributed the crisis bedeviling Nigeria to the absence of adequate investment in education, saying there’s no universal basic education in the country.

According to him, Nigeria invested only N4.4 trillion in education for 10 years compared to South Africa that invested about 17 billion dollars in education last year.

The Principal of Egbu Girls Secondary School, Lady Onyekachi Basil-Nwachukwu noted that the school was known for its high standard which made it to produce classy women that had come together to form EGOGA; the likes of

Mrs. Akeredolu, and others.

She stated that the school remained Nigerian Champion in International Brain

Bee (IBB) (Neuroscience) quiz competition for three consecutive years of 2015 in Australia, 2016 in Denmark, and 2017 Washington DC.