Northern Women urge empowerment of girl-child in North

The organisers of the Northern Women Summit have urged stakeholders from Northern Nigeria to work together for the empowerment of the girl-child from the region.

The group made the call on Saturday in Abuja at an event to unveil the maiden edition of ‘The Northern Women Magazine’, as well as plans and programme for its 2025 summit.

According to the women who spoke as panelists, the region has array of women from different background that are doing well and contributing significantly in their fields of endeavour.

They however, said it was time for all stakeholders, particularly women from the region to join hands to empower the less privileged girl child.

Dr Sameera Abubakar, founder, Better Life for Children and Women Future Foundation, said it was time to walk the talk to ensure the next generation of women are empowered to take responsibilities.

“I believe that whatever it is that I have in this world, there should be someone to continue the legacy, and that should be our passion for lifting others.

“We must ensure that this young generation coming up as ladies will be able to stand for themselves, will be able to speak for themselves, and be self-reliant.

“We have ladies with potentials from the North, they are brilliant, but only need the right platforms and support, and that is why our mentorship programme will continue after the summit.

“This northern women’s programme is going to be a legacy for a lot of hopeless children to have hope that there is a platform that is ready to accept who they are.

“We are not stopping till we see that every girl child is self-reliant and knows her rights and her worth and what is morally expected of her,” she said.

Umma Getso, a political activist and vice presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party(YPP) in the 2019 presidential election, said empowering the girl-child through education would make her contribute meaningfully to her family.

“My life is all about mentoring young women. And I’m so glad many mothers like me, no longer keep our daughters under the bed or hide them.

“About 70 to 80 per cent of northern women are now out trying to get educated and trying to get mentoring, for them to sit up and do more than just being in the kitchen.

“I pray that the impact will be felt very very soon we will see more women coming out to contribute to the status quo.

“We are proud to call ourselves northern women, because our culture is the greatest beauty that is guiding us to our journeys.”, she said.

Asma’u Abdullahi, Executive Director Slum Tech, said there was a need for privileged women professionals from the region to join hands in the empowerment of young girls.

According to her, there are a lot of opportunities in the ICT and digital space that should be presented to females, as the sector has been male-dominated.

“As for the one we are doing, Northern Women in Tech, we are trying to create a lot of opportunities for individuals by partnering with organisations.

“We have already partnered with more than 10 organisations, like Unlock Africa, which has an application for content creators, and entrepreneurs that are selling online.

“We are partnering with an NGO that will mentor 100 young women and guide them until they flow and we are creating a CSR for them to continue to come in touch with us,” she said.

Dr Sa’adatu Adamu, a rehabilitation counselor and founder, Secure the Future International Initiative, said one of the aims of the women summit scheduled to hold in March 2025 was to celebrate their successes.

“We know that there are so many northern women out there doing a lot, but there are just a few of them that are being recognised.

“So we believe that during the summit such people would be recognised, because we believe that will inspire others as part of our mentoring initiatives,” she said.

Dr Zara Abubakar, Chief Executive Officer, Esteemed Media Services, said the group was making consultations with other women and stakeholders from the region towards rallying support for the girls child.

“A whole lot is happening in the North and the world need to know about the uniqueness of the Arewa wowen, and how we can support and celebrate ourselves,” she said.

Earlier in his remark, the Project Coordinator, Mr Samsila Vangawa, said Northern Women Summit was a forum of female professionals and mothers who have decided to champion positive change in their environment.

He said the Northern Women Magazine was a compendium of the feats of women from the region who were contributing meaningfully in different fields.

“We have women in the entertainment and creative space, business, film industry, fashion, politics and even those championing humanitarian initiatives to better the life of ordinary citizens,” he said.