By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
As part of the events to commemorate the International Day of the Girl, a non-government organization, Women Connect Initiative (WCI), with support from USEFUL Foundation, has donated 550 books each in three local government areas of Kaduna State, saying that many community girls still lack access to quality books and learning materials in hard-to-reach communities in northwest region.
The non-government organization made the donation during its yearly International Day of the Girl (IDG) Community-wide Outreach themed, “Our Time is Now: Our Rights, Our Future”.
While making the donation to the communities, the Executive Director of Women Connect Initiative, Hajiya Murjanatu Suleiman-Shika noted that community girls in North Nigeria are the most denied and most vulnerable when it comes to access to quality books and education saying that access to books is a right issue.
“Access to books is a right issue and should be given serious attention especially now as Kaduna State as well as Nigeria pushes to achieve Sustainable Development Goals 4and 5 which are anchored on quality education and gender equality.
“Our donation is premised upon a research finding during our baseline survey in the first quarter of this year. Currently, less than 7% girls in hard-to-reach communities have access to books and this is one of the ways their vulnerability is heightened.
“Sen. Uba Sani, through his USEFUL Foundation, has supported the mass publication of the book, Yes I Can, a collection of motivating stories of indigenous girl-leaders in Nigeria, to be shared in all Kaduna Local Governments,” she said.
While commenting on the importance of the book and the need for mass free distribution, Sen. Uba Sani through his representative, noted that populating communities with good books is one of the ways of emancipating the minds of girls to demand for their rights wherever they find themselves.
