The high rate of illiteracy and early marriage among girls in northern Nigeria is alarming; sadly, it may take a while for things to change because many of the northern society do not see the importance of educating a girl-child.
Recounting a personal experience, the wife of Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, Aishatu said that she was an illiterate when she married her husband.
According to her, this was because her parents did not believe in sending a female child to school.
PUNCH reported that she said,
I was 16 years old and a stark illiterate when I married my husband. We were 100 girls in my family but none of us went to school; I had never been to primary school in my parent’s house. I only started school after my third child. This was because our parents never believed in educating the girl-child; I struggled to go school, but they refused.
I picked the challenge to be educated from my brothers and after I had my third child, I insisted that my husband should get me a home teacher. That was how I started and I later went to secondary school. Today I am a graduate of Public Administration from the University of Abuja.
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