Kebbi State Governor, Abubakar Bagudu
Kebbi State Governor, Abubakar Bagudu said his administration has incorporated western education into Qur’anic system of education to enable students of Qur’anic schools to compete favourably with students of conventional schools.
Bagudu, who was represented by the state Head of Service, Alhaji Tanko Musa stated this in Birnin kebbi on Thursday, October 31, 2019 at the 2-day International Conference , themed: “Role of Government, CSOs and Individuals in Eradicating Gender-Based Violence in Nigeria” and organised by the Zaki’s Gem General Services Limited, an NGO.
He said the decision was aimed at ensuring children in the state were given both Qur’anic and Western education so that they could compete favourably with other children.According to him, his administration has put in place policies to ensure eradication of gender based violence in the state.
“We institutionalised relevant ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in this state especially, Ministries of Justice, Education and Women Affairs to ensure the success of the government activities to reduce child abuse and gender-based violence in the society.
“We are recording progress in addressing out-of-school children, Vesico-Vaginal Fistula (VVF) issues and other social protection challenges that may lead to violence or other crimes against human beings in general”, Bagudu said.
He also described the conference as “a timely and welcome development” and assured that the state government will continue to partner with the NGOs, CSOs and other stakeholders to bring development to the state.
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The Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, who was represented by the State Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof. Bashir Garba, urged religious leaders in the country to sensitise their followers on the dangers associated with child abuse and gender-based violence.
Tambuwal said religious and traditional leaders had greater roles to play in enlightening the public on the issues relating to gender-based violence in the society. “Our Media outfits should also anchor programmes on gender based violence while our well-meaning individuals should sponsor those programmes to enlighten the general public”, he said.
He attributed the increase in violence against women and children in the country to Boko Haram insurgency and other forms of insecurity in the last nine years. “I am using this medium to thank the Zaki’s Gems General Services Limited for organising this conference. l am advising the organisers to extend these programmes to people at the grassroots”, Tambuwal said.
He urged the participants and other stakeholders to liaise with the relevant Civil Society Organisations(CSOs) and development partners to continue to advocate against gender-based violence in the society.
Tambuwal also thanked Kebbi state government for providing peaceful platform for NGOs, CSOs to contribute to the development of the state.
Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer of the NGO, Hajiya Nafisat Abubakar-Zaki, said it was established to work on gender, social inclusion and community engagement as well as Integrated Consultancy Services on Gender Skills Acquisition Training.
The main goal of the NGO is to change positively the lives of youths and women by mentoring them to become productive citizens and by building their capacity through behaviour change communication for sustainable development.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, the two-day conference was attended by political office holders, traditional and religious leaders, women groups, CSOs, representatives of MDAs and students among others.
Yetunde Adegoke
