By Gabriel Ewepu, Precious John and Enoch Ola
Over 200 school girls of Government Science Secondary School, Pykasa, Maitama, in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, were gifted 200 sanitary pads by Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, Mee and Cee Development Foundation and Julebrama Women and Children Initiative as part of their activities to commemorate the 2022 International Women’s Day, IWD, along with other necessary capacity building programmes that they benefited from.
Speaking on the essence of commemorating the 2022 IWD with the girls, the Founder Mee and Cee, Chy Ogamba, said the United Nations, UN, challenged women across the world to celebrate their achievements and break all biases that stand in their way of advancement and development.
According to Ogamba, their voice needs to be heard and not silenced by male chauvinistic network.
She said: “The more we highlight the presence and achievement of women in families, communities and society at large, the more we break biases of this gender in equalities in our societies.
“Notable women figures have shown clear examples of leadership, commitment and accountability- factors that are necessary to build a sustainable Development in any Country. This is a wake up call to commit to change mindsets and embrace women’s bid for gender equality in all walks of life.
“We are here in Government Science Secondary School, Pyakasa, Maitama, Abuja to present 200 sanitary pads to 200 school girls. They were also taught personal hygiene and best way to dispose their sanitary pads.”
According to her, “It is going to be sustainable because we will keep impacting young minds on best way to do things.”
However, she called for one per cent tax deduction to be used for provision of sanitary pads and other essentials that would add value to the health and study of indigent school girls who cannot afford a sanitary pad when they are in their circle.
“Mee and Cee Development Foundation advocates for one per cent deduction of tax, since is a fundamental need and not luxury.
“Mee and Cee Development Foundation is an NGO that promotes Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, especially 2,3,4 and goal 17”, she added.
Also speaking was the Project Coordinator, Mee and Cee Development Foundation, Vivian Amalio, explained that the essence of coming to the Government Science Secondary School was to catch them young.
“We are here in Government Science Secondary School to celebrate International Women’s Day is to catch them young and change their mindset especially young ones that are leaving the school at the moment.
“It is better and easier to change their narrative because it is easier to change the narrative of a child than when they are adult, which becomes difficult to change what they have lived with.
“We choose the science schools coz most people don’t believe that woman can be doctors, engineers, and others”, she added.
One of the officers of JOWACI Foundation, Belaboh Stephen, said the well-being of women and girls remain cardinal in the mandate, vision and mission.
“We are based here but work outside Abuja. This initiative is not a one time thing, we have a lot that we carry out. Last year we did spelling-bee exercise for orphans, feeding of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, and also as long as it has to do with orphans, less privileged we carry out initiatives
“Looking at the population, we have 100 girls here and we want them to walk away by knowing that you can do all things.
We also get feedback that is why we take their numbers and email for those who need further information.
We have a database that covers the right of the citizens”, Stephen said.