The United Nations Agency for Children (UNICEF) has said estimated 10 million school-age girls are out-of-school with most of them from northern Nigeria .

The insecurity caused by Boko Haram, kidnapping, banditry and others in the Northeast region has increased the magnitude where many girls are abducted and some of them never returned from captivity and those who returned suffer trauma and other forms of abuse. This forces girls to leave school.

Every child has the right to a safe, formal, quality education and access to lifelong learning. However, due to a combination of factors like insecurity and poverty, many girls are forced to leave school while others never had the opportunity to go to school, in the first place.

The situation with girls’ education in Borno state has been further affected by attacks on schools in the state as these attacks have created an insecure learning environment, discouraged parents and caregivers from sending their children to schools, while at the same time, the students themselves become fearful of going to school.

A recent research by UNICEF reveals that there are over 10 million out of school children in Northern Nigeria, many of whom are between ages of five and 15. According to the research, the North-east, comprising Gombe, Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Taraba states, has the highest number of the out of school children.

Girl child education is crucial for national development and the role of women cannot be underestimated in that direction. “When you educate a man, you educate one but when you educate a woman, you educate a nation.

I will like to solicit the support of all to put hand on deck for the next generation and get-together. Borno state has been backward for many years, especially on girl child education and other forms of development.