Malala meets Osinbajo, seeks state of emergency in education

The Pakistani founder of the Malala Fund and girls’ education activist, Malala Yousafzai, on Tuesday met behind closed doors with the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. At the end of the session, Yousafzai told State House correspondents that he seized the opportunity of the meeting which she described as a good one to call for the declaration of a state of emergency in the nation’s education sector. She said she also called for the implementation of the Child Rights Act in all states of the federation. She said, “It was a very good meeting. I had very good response. I highlighted a few issues. The first was to ask the government to declare a state of emergency for education because the education of the Nigerian girls and boys is really important. “Federal government, state governments and local governments should all be united for this. “Secondly, the spending should be made public and thirdly, the Child Rights Act should be implemented in all states. “I was really happy to hear positive response from the Acting President that they are happy with the suggestion of implementing emergency for education and that they are happy to work more on education and that they are united. “I am happy to hear positive responses from the ministers as well that they are ensuring that education is prioritised in every girl and in every boy and education in Nigeria is given priority.” Yousafzai said she had earlier met with released Chibok girls and that she was happy at what the minister is doing to support the Chibok girls. She said she was excited to see the girls going back to their homes and to their families and continuing their education. She expressed the hope that the remaining girls still in the captivity of Boko Haram are released. The youngest Nobel Laureate led a delegation of seven to the meeting. She was accompanied by his father and other girl rights activists. The last time she visited Nigeria was in 2014 shortly after members of Boko Haram sect abducted the Chibok girls. She seized the opportunity of the visit to call on former President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure the release of the abducted girls.