“If you educate even one of your daughters’ she will educate the society because her children will go to school”, says Nasiru Datti Ahmed a native of Kankarofi community in Kano State who during his primary education was faced with the shocking reality that many times girls performed better than boys in schools and he wondered why in Nigeria especially in the North, there were more boys in schools than girls. He recognized that educating women results in improved productivity, income and economic development as well as a better quality of life. It eliminates gender disparity, empowers women for greater community involvement especially in governance and management and for national development.

Regrettably literacy rate for Nigerian women has been remarkably low. The national literacy level rate for females is only 56 percent compared to 72 percent for males and in certain states especially in the northern states, the female literacy, enrolment and achievement rates are much lower than those of their male counterparts. UNESCO’s reports over the past ten years have consistently shown that more than 60 percent of adult illiterates in Nigeria are women, indicating the urgent need for serious interventions, in the area of women’s literacy programmes1. This low level of literacy among girls has become alarming, given that education plays a very important role in the development of any nation.

Nigeria is a religious and traditional society; it has multi-faceted cultural practices and ideologies on the status, capabilities and role of women. In most cases, from early childhood, the Nigerian female, is psychologically tuned to looking forward to herself, as a future home keeper, Nasiru laments. In his contributions to addressing this serious social issue, Nasiru is sacrificing his time and resources to sensitize his people on the need for the girl-child education. He also works to influence traditional and religious beliefs and practices that place a barrier on the education of the girl child and results in female under-representation and under participation in Kankarofi, Kano State community.

When asked what his reasons were for taking on this huge project, he highlighted the gender disparity and under-representation of women in local decision making processes in his community. In many northern states in Nigeria, the religious and cultural beliefs heavily influence the educational opportunities afforded the girl-child. The typical female who is prepared for an early education is still very different in the Northern parts of Nigeria. This is due to some stringent religious and cultural beliefs, which proposes that the girl-child, marries early and for child bearing functions only, thereby forcing a lower social status on them. For instance, in Sokoto one of the six target states under the UNICEF African Girls’ Education Initiative, girls’ net enrolment is 15 percent compared to 59 percent for boys2.

He speaks further on the reasons behind his project “Kankarofi Community lacks understanding of the benefits of education and sees no reason why girls’ enrollment and retention in schools should be encouraged. I was lucky enough to attend school and I discovered that girls performed excellently in school. This motivated me to take up this huge project, to sensitize my people on the need to allow their female children to go to school.”

Nasiru commenced this project with the funds provided by LEAP Africa, a non profit organization that aims at inspiring empowering and equipping a new cadre of African leaders. A change project is one of LEAP’s requirements for participants enrolled in its Youth Leadership Programme. They are asked to identify and commerce positive change efforts geared towards improving the lives of people in their immediate communities. With additional support from, the Local Government Education Secretary and the Local Education Authority in his State, Nasiru held a two day workshop on GIRL-CHILD EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT in Kankarofi Community, Kano State. The target groups for this workshop were girl-children between the ages of six and sixteen, housewives and poor widows who rely on girls hawking for them to meet their daily needs. The workshop featured female school graduates and teachers who shared their experiences about education in a bid to encourage other families to educate their female children. The programme enjoyed tremendous support as the Local Government Secretary gave a cash donation, and the Local Education Authority pledged to include formal western curriculum, like Mathematics and English at Islammiyya Schools. Isammiyya schools, otherwise known as madrasas, are officially recognized Muslim schools for boys and girls to ensure their early acquisition of Islamic literacy.

Nasiru employed several other avenues in implementing his project. He organized sermons in the Mosques which were taken by Imams, and engaged Ward Heads in distributing leaflets.

Thanks to Nasiru’s efforts, girls in Kankarofi, a community of only about 2, 500 residents,have begun erolling in schools. Interestingly. The Emir of Kano has also pledged his support for Nasiru’s girl- child education initiative.

LEAP states that Nasiru’s achievements attest to the fact that young Nigerians can create significant change.