House of Representatives has called on the Federal Ministry of Education to drastically eliminate the number of out-of-school girls by providing compulsory free education for girls across the country.

This followed the adoption of a motion moved by Hon. Kafilat Ogbara on the heels of the Commemoration of the 2023 International Day of the Girl Child “Invest in Girls’ Rights: Our Leadership, Our Well-being” at plenary on Thursday. Moving the motion, Ogbara expressed worry over the high number of out-of-school girls that engage in drugs and other vices, saying throughout history, girls have been systematically held back and undervalued in society;

She said, “Investment in critical steps such as the Girls Rights under the Convention of the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) will help to fast track the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.

“The current trend in Nigeria reveals that young girls who are sexually abused by their parents/guardians, return back to the same house where they were abused after police intervention.

Adopting the motion, the House urged the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) National Orientation Agency (NOA) and other Stakeholders to initiate ways of educating and sensitising adolescent girls on the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. motion sponsored by Hon. Emmanuel Ukpong-Udo urged the Federal Government to subsequently consider employing victims of election violence into public service of the federation.

In his debate, Ukpong-Udo said the Independent National Electoral Commission co-opted over 200,000 youth Corps members as Ad-hoc staff to assist in the administration of the 2023 elections, constituting approximately 80% of the INEC Ad-hoc staff.

He however expressed worry that some of the corps members were reported to have been victims of election violence, sustaining injuries from gunshots and matchets.