Editor
By Chuka Nnabuife
There are issues we discuss endlessly yet make painfully little progress on. The plight of the girl-child is one of them.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe more the world speaks about the vulnerability of girls, the more disturbing the evidence appears: sexual abuse, denial of basic human rights, discrimination, child marriage, exclusion from school and social marginalisation. The world remains deeply skewed against the girl-child, even as her opportunities appear to be expanding in the modern era.
Sunday, October 11, the world marked the 2026 International Day of the Girl-Child with renewed concern over child marriage, school exclusion, violence and other threats to girls’ rights.
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Under the theme, “End Child Marriage and Invest in Girls’ Rights!”, this year’s observance puts the spotlight on the continuing vulnerability of millions of girls, particularly in developing regions such as Africa.
UNICEF estimates that about 650 million women and girls alive today were married before the age of 18, while more than 12 million girls enter marriage every year before reaching adulthood. West and Central Africa remain among the regions with the highest prevalence of child marriage.
Poverty is a major driver. So are gender discrimination, harmful cultural practices, insecurity, poor educational opportunities, teenage pregnancy, family pressure, weak enforcement of protective laws and limited economic opportunities. Together, these factors constrain girls’ choices and expose them to early marriage, exploitation and abuse.
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The consequences are profound. Child marriage often forces girls out of school and exposes them to early pregnancy, health complications, domestic violence and lifelong economic dependence. It steals not merely childhood but opportunity, agency and, often, the prospect of economic independence.
Nigeria is hardly immune.
Across the country, many girls continue to face the combined burden of poverty, insecurity, teenage pregnancy, sexual violence and inadequate access to education and healthcare. Recent reports underline just how vulnerable they remain.
In 2026, two security guards in the Federal Capital Territory were sentenced to life imprisonment for repeatedly abusing a girl from the age of six. In Anambra, police prosecuted suspects over the alleged rape of girls aged 11 and 16. Vanguard also reported that Niger State recorded 192 child-abuse violations, including rape, trafficking and forced marriage, between November 2025 and June 2026.
Other reported cases included the alleged rape of a three-year-old girl in Oyo State, the abuse of an eight-year-old in Bauchi and cases involving girls aged 13 in Niger and 12 in Cross River. Anambra has also recorded multiple child-abuse cases.
These are not isolated statistics. They are human lives.
They also raise an uncomfortable question: despite years of advocacy, campaigns and public awareness, why does abuse of women and girls remain so persistent?
Evidence from human-rights bodies suggests that the problem remains widespread. Nigeria recorded 84,187 domestic-violence cases and 45,986 sexual-violence cases in 2024, according to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Between January and May 2025, another 33,256 sexual and gender-based violence cases were documented.
The figures should trouble any society that claims to care about the welfare of its children.
Governments must therefore move beyond declarations and strengthen the enforcement of child-protection laws. Investment is also needed in education, healthcare, social protection and safe learning environments.
But the government alone cannot solve the problem.
Schools must provide adequate sanitation and menstrual-health facilities while expanding opportunities for girls in science, technology, vocational training and digital skills. Parents, traditional and religious leaders, civil-society organisations and the media all have crucial roles in preventing child marriage, exposing abuse and protecting vulnerable girls.
International observances such as the Day of the Girl-Child matter. They focus attention on a crisis that might otherwise disappear beneath the noise of everyday life. But their value ultimately depends on what happens after the speeches, banners and commemorations.
The real test is whether girls remain in school. Whether laws protect them. Whether perpetrators are punished. Whether families can afford to keep their daughters in education. Whether a girl can report abuse and be believed. Whether institutions act before the damage is done.
And so, on this International Day of the Girl-Child, one question demands an answer: Must we scream and yell before our society and institutions take the wellbeing of our girls seriously?
Must a girl scream before society hears her? Must she bleed before institutions act? Must she die before we decide that her life matters?
The wellbeing of our girls should not require a national outcry before institutions remember that protecting them is their duty. If we must scream and yell every International Day of the Girl-Child before our institutions act, then the crisis is not only the abuse. It is the silence, indifference and institutional failure that allow the abuse to continue.
As former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reminded the world at the 1995 Beijing Conference, “Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights.”
For Nigeria’s girls, that principle must become more than a declaration. It must become protection before the scream, justice before the tragedy and opportunity before childhood is stolen.
• Chuka Nnabuife , FNGE, FSNA, writes via [email protected], 08026472357
