Youngest Nobel Laureate, Malala Yousafzai has advised the Nigerian government to declare a state of emergency in the education sector as part of measures to revamp the sector.
Malala who met with Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa on Monday, in company of her father and some other delegates said issues of girl child education and the child rights acts must also come into the front burner for the Nigerian government.
The 20-year old Pakistani Head of Malala Fund, was in Abuja to canvass for education opportunity for the girl-child.
She told State House correspondents after the meeting that she has stressed the need for government to scale up education by declaring a state of emergency in the sector.
Her words, “It was a very good meeting. I had very good response. I highlighted a few issues. The first was to ask the government to declare a state of emergency for education because the education of the Nigerian girls and boys is really important.
“The Federal Government, state governments and local governments should all be united for this. Secondly, the spending should be made public and thirdly, the Child Rights Act should be implemented in all states.
“I was really happy to hear positive response from the Acting President that they are happy with the suggestion of implementing emergency for education and that they are happy to work more on education and that they are united. I’m happy to hear positive responses from the ministers as well that they are ensuring that education is prioritised in every girl and in every boy and education in Nigeria is given priority.”
Before visiting the Presidential Villa, Malala had a one on one meeting with the 82 Chibok girls freed by their captors, the Boko Haram sect recently.
She spoke on that also, “earlier in the morning, I met some of the Chibok girls and I was very happy at what the Honourable minister is doing to support the Chibok girls.
“I’m really excited to see them going back to their homes and to their families and continuing their education. But I hope the other girls who are still under abduction of Boko Haram are released Her father and co-founder of Malala Fund, Ziauddin Yousafzai, in a separate interview, noted that the vision of the Malala Fund was to ensure that every girl in all corners of the world gets quality, free education.
Malala was on October 9, 2012, shot in the head by a Taliban gunman as she rode home on a bus after taking an exam in Pakistan’s Swat Valley because she had spoken up for the right of girls to be educated.
The incident drew the condemnation of the world which reacted in horror.
Malala survived the ordeal after weeks in intensive care.
She is a co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.
