No fewer than 50 girls from the Nafada Local Government Area of Gombe State are expected to benefit from the scholarship scheme launched by Zainab Bulkachuwa, the immediate past president, and the first female president, of the Court of Appeal.
The scholarship scheme was launched on the platform of her initiative, ADDA Girl Education Foundation, and was geared towards supporting beneficiaries with quality education, mentoring as well as career path.
According to Bulkachuwa, empowering the girls in the state had become crucial considering their number. She stressed that the foundation would enable the girls realise the potential and power of education.
She said, “In this light, the ADDA foundation has selected 50 girls from the Nafada Local Government Area as its set of scholars. This is just the first phase of the scholarship scheme. We intend to select girls from the three senatorial zones of the state, Balanga and Akko also.
“The girls were selected across all levels of education; primary, secondary, and tertiary. We will support them with school supplies, tuition fees, breakfast and monthly stipend, mentoring, internship and job placement. We will ensure that an ‘ADDA girl’ gets the best education to reach the height of her career.”
The retired jurist revealed that she might be out of service but not tired of making positive impacts on humanity, saying, “This is opportunity to give back to my society after active service, I may be retired but not tired.”
The chairman of the occasion and former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo ,lauded the scheme, while enumerating the essence of educating the girl-child.
He stressed that so much were required to ensure that both boys and girls enjoyed quality education.
Modibbo said, “The endowment should not just end in education but to the career of the girls.”
On her part, the Presiding Judge of the Appeal Court of Gombe, Hannatu Sankey, in her key note address said requisite laws were needed to protect the girl child.
Sankey urged states of the federation, including Gombe, to domesticate the child rights Act, noting that it would protect them.
She said, “Girls must feel safe to attend school and do so joyously and passionately in order to excel and impact positively in the developmental strides of Nigeria. I will call on states that make up the federation, which are yet to domesticate the child rights Act, to do so without delay to better protect the rights of the girl-child in Nigeria.”
Sankey continued, “The girl-child, where properly nurtured and mentored, is usually courageous, determined, committed, tough and talented. Therefore, we need to give them a chance and create the right environment for them to flourish.”
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