Nigeria lagging in girl-child education

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THERE is something particularly troubling about a country where educating the girl-child is considered less important. And it is not because she lacks the capacity to learn, but because society erroneously thinks educating her is not worthwhile. Nigeria remains trapped at that juncture despite clear examples to the contrary.

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Consequently, millions of its girls are shut out of school. This is dangerously absurd, and should be corrected.

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Data from a training in Maiduguri organised by the Borno State Ministry of Education in conjunction with the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment Project states one inescapable truth: Nigeria is lagging in girl-child education.

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The figures from Muhammad Auwal, a girl-child education advocate who drew attention at the event, are stark.

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About 7.6 million Nigerian girls are out of school, with nearly half of them in the North. UNICEF also cites the data.

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Auwal attributed the crisis to poverty, early marriage, harmful cultural practices and unsafe learning environments. Religion is not far from the mix.

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These are familiar explanations. What is hard to understand is how society and the leadership continue to tolerate them. Why treat girls as though they are less important than boys?

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According to the figures Auwal cited from the 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, girls trailed boys in school attendance, posting 69.7 per cent compared with 86.1 per cent. Also, only 48.8 per cent of Nigerian girls attended junior secondary school.

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At the senior secondary level, the gap is even more disturbing: the completion rate was 55.5 per cent for girls versus 75.3 per cent for boys in 2023.

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In Rwanda, according to World Bank data, girls outnumber boys in secondary school enrolment; the same is true in Namibia.

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In Ghana, there is some gender parity, while more girls enrol for secondary education than boys in Finland and Sweden.

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In Nigeria, by contrast, school-age girls are hawking on the streets, caring for younger siblings or working on farms. Some are married off before they are emotionally or physically prepared for marriage and motherhood.

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Rather than studying in a classroom, some are sitting at home because their parents believe educating them is an unnecessary expense the family cannot afford. This is costly.

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With about 20 million of its children out of school, the highest globally, Nigeria is in a precarious position. This must change.

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Among those girls sidelined may have been great mathematicians, doctors, engineers, teachers, accountants, entrepreneurs or public servants. Rather than educate them, their parents chose instead to spend the money on their brothers.

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Nigeria must urgently confront this self-destructive practice. Denying girls education is not the preservation of culture. It is the preservation of deprivation.

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For too long, a particularly damaging idea has survived in the country: educate the boy because he will remain a member of the family and preserve its name, while the girl will eventually marry and become part of another household. That argument is a fallacy.

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The girl does not cease to be a daughter because she becomes a wife. Nor does she stop being a member of her community because she bears another family’s name.

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Most importantly, there is no guarantee that every educated boy will uphold the family name or become a productive citizen. Some boys will disappoint their parents. Some will squander opportunities.

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Meanwhile, countless daughters have returned enormous honour to their families.

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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former finance minister, is the first woman and first African to serve as Director-General of the World Trade Organisation. She began a second four-year term in that position in September 2025.

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Her achievements are not merely personal triumphs. They are part of the story of what happens when a Nigerian girl is allowed to acquire knowledge, develop her abilities and compete with the best in the world.

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Others are doing exceptionally well across all fields of human endeavours.

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In June, 16-year-old Osasere Okundaye became Nigeria’s youngest chartered accountant after qualifying through the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. Her achievement was announced and celebrated nationally.

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A girl who, in another circumstance, could have been told that education was unnecessary because she would eventually marry has instead demonstrated extraordinary intellectual capacity. At 16, she has already attained a professional qualification that many adults spend years pursuing.

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Her story exposes the absurdity of placing artificial limits on girls.

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If a girl can become a chartered accountant at 16, how many other Osaseres are sitting at home across Northern Nigeria and beyond because nobody gave them the opportunity?

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That is the question leaders must answer.

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Around the world, women are leading nations and shaping global affairs. Namibia is led by President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, its first female president.

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Claudia Sheinbaum is president of Mexico. India has Droupadi Murmu as its president, while Italy is led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

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What if these women had been denied education?

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What if their parents had concluded that educating a daughter was wasteful because she would eventually marry?

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Nigeria cannot continue to ignore half of its population and expect to compete successfully globally.

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This is why the intervention of people such as Auwal matters. His decision to keep drawing attention to the statistics is important. But his warning should not be confined to training halls and policy meetings. It should reach palaces, mosques, churches, homes and schools.

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The intervention of Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, equally deserves attention.

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In June, Sanusi described girl-child education as a powerful instrument for tackling Nigeria’s deepest social and economic problems.

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“If there is one single silver bullet that goes through many of the developmental issues that we face, it is educating the girl-child,” he said.

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He went further: “You keep a young woman in school long enough, you deal with problems of maternal death, neonatal death, malnutrition, out-of-school children and intergenerational poverty.”

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Sanusi’s advocacy should move other traditional rulers across the North and elsewhere in the country to action. In their domains, they can inspire a rethink of a cultural practice that has held millions of girls down. They can correct the patriarchal fallacy that educating the girl-child is a waste of resources.

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Parents should educate their children without gender bias. Women should get an education, too, even in adult schools. It is easier for an educated mother to send her girl-children to school than for an uneducated mother.

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Nigeria must save itself and educate its girl-child.

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