Intervention
By Mustapha Sumaila
Abuja, Sep 13, 2018 (NAN) Plan International Nigeria, an NGO, has called for interventions from government and concerned organisations to tackle the plights of adolescent girls in the North-East and Lake Chad region.
Dr Hussaini Abdu, the Country Director of the NGO, made the appeal at the public presentation of “Adolescent Girls in Crisis: Voices from the Lake Chad Basin” in Abuja on Thursday.
Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that promotes children’s rights and equality for girls with headquarters in Canada.
The country director said that the organisation had been advancing children’s rights and equality for girls, adding that the organisation supports children’s rights from birth to adulthood.
Abdu explained that research findings from the affected area revealed that the girls needed more than the routine donation of humanitarian supplies.
He said that understanding peculiarities of the support needed by the girls and its extent prompted the NGO to dig more into how the adolescent girls experienced the crises.
The country director stated that the survey also found out how the girls were coping with their peculiar experiences and the kind of support they needed.
According to him, the findings present a more disturbing situation than has been previously disclosed to the public.
“The adolescent girls are exposed to violence and other forms of abuses in several fronts than had been previously known.
“The study on the peculiarities of the girls, aged between 10 and 19, revealed that they are susceptible at home environment just as their outside of their homes.
“The protection some would take for granted at home and in some instances does not exist just as they are in perpetual fear of the militants and also in constant fear of domestic violence at home,” he explained.
(NAN)
MS/OSA/DUA
Edited by Shittu Obassa/Dada Ahmed