Girl-child education in Nigeria: issues and implications on national development

Abstract

The importance of girl-child education to the development of any nation cannot he overemphasised. There is a saying that "if we educate a boy, we educate one person, hut if we educate a girl, we educate a family and a nation". In many parts of the Africa, particularly in Nigeria, the girl-child face significant obstacles in accessing proper education, there is a serious gap between the boy-child education and that of girl-child due to inherent societal values placed on the boy-child over the girl-child. The girl-child has her destiny sealed by both tradition and culture on account of biological sex. There is also a seeming absence of policies that are specifically geared to attending to gender issues with obvious room for gender gap. It is on the basis of this that this paper examined issues in girl-child education in Nigeria and its implications on the development of the country. Peculiar issues such as access to education, school retention and drop out, equity as well as quality of education were closely examined vis-a-vis the implication on national development. The paper also proffered solutions to eradicating the problems facing girl-child education in Nigeria in order to achieve meaningful development. The paper concluded that education is the right of every girl-child, a key to transforming her life and making her a responsible member of the society. Therefore, the government should not only provide adequate policies to meet this yearning need, but also ensure that these policies are fully implemented.