By Philip Yatai

The Partnership to Engage Reform and Learn (PERL), a United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) governance programme is mobilising traditional and religious leaders to address barriers to girls’ education in Kaduna State.  

PERL’s State Partnership Facilitator, Mr Istifanus Akau, stated this at a two-day interactive session with traditional and religious leaders in Kano on Wednesday.

Akau explained that PERL, in collaboration with Kaduna Basic Education Accountability Coalition (KADBEAM) was enlisting the support of the traditional and religious leaders to join forces for girls’ education in the state.

He said that the objective of the engagement was to mobilise the traditional and religious leaders to lend their voices in promoting girl education in their various communities.

He added that the traditional and religious institutions were being mobilised to advocate for the removal of security, political, socio-cultural and all forms of barriers to girl education in the state.

According to him, the move will further strengthen collaboration between citizens, traditional and religious leaders towards addressing identified barriers to girl education.

“This is part of PERL’s effort towards bringing together governments and citizens groups at both the federal and the state level to address governance challenges associated with service delivery.

“PERL’s Engaged Citizens Pillar works with a wide range of citizen groups and supports the groups to represent citizens’ voice and bring citizens’ priorities to government in an effective way.

“The programme also supports citizens to hold the government to account in the implementation of policies and budget commitment to improve the quality of life of the citizens.”

He pointed out that the Kaduna state government accorded huge priority to education and introduced reforms to improve access to quality education by all children, particularly girls to complete basic and secondary education.

Akau added that the government equally introduced a Second Chance Education initiative for girls who dropped out of school due to domestic and other demands.

He urged the traditional and religious leaders to support the efforts and engage the government to fulfil its commitment of ensuring girls were in school and learning.

Also speaking, the Co-Chair, KADBEAM, Mr Tijjani Aliyu said that mobilising the traditional and religious leaders was crucial, pointing out that not much would be achieved without the support of traditional and religious institutions.

Also, the Co-Chair (Citiznes), Open Government Partnership, Mrs Hadiza Umar, appealed for the support of the traditional and religious institutions to address barriers to girls’ education in their communities.

Mr Sani Galadima, Deputy Director Chieftaincy Matters, Ministry of Local Government Affairs, thanked PERL and KADBEAM for their support.

Galadima said that the state government was currently reforming and repositioning the traditional institution with a view to improve their working condition and empower them to contribute to social development.

He said that if properly positioned, the traditional and religious institutions will effectively enforce laws, promote discipline, and safeguard society from evil and unethical behaviors.

“Our doors shall continue to remain open for partnership to develop communities and address societal vices,” he said.