Girls in Nigeria have numerous challenges to contend with.

 Poverty, peer pressure, early marriage, unwanted pregnancy, negligence, rape, ignorance, lack of parental care. The list is endless.

Even though leaders at all levels have made noticeable efforts to give girls a future, a lot still has to be done, in terms of guidance, legislation, interventions, funding and monitoring.

For parents and guardians-''Ensure you groom your children and wards in the proper way, so that they will not soil your name.

For society-''Do not cover up wrong deeds, rather expose the same for the uplifting of society

For the Places of Worship-'' Preach and teach the girls all that will mold them to be God-fearing, responsible, reliable and dependable.

Mrs Mujakperuo holds a master's degree in Security Studies and is also a doctoral student.

Political office holders in Nigeria have been called upon not to abandon children and youth after they must have won elections.

This call was made by the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam, Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke in a lecture titled ‘’World Thinking Day and the 5 Road Mpas’’ at an event organized to commemorate the World Thinking Day, by the Oyo state Council of the Girls Guide Association of Nigeria.

‘’Political office holders were always present and active at programs for children and youth during campaigns and before they won elections, but after they emerged victorious their behavior changed. They should continue to support children and youth even after they win elections’’, Prof. Olagoke stated.

He stressed that for a well ordered society to emerge, ‘’ the home, the society, the nation and the world must create a culture of World Thinking Day at individual, association, voluntary organization and government levels of operations to propel them to do the needful with timely intervention’’.

‘’The World Thinking Day need to go into every individual’s psyche on self-fulfillment for every blessed day and evaluative reasoning on the value we put in life, for our neighbors and humanity generally to promote a better world order. Never abuse the girl child, never insult womanhood and ensure that everyone puts value into society . Stop wars and prevent diseases to promote a meaningful life of comfort for all, people with disability inclusive’’, He concluded.

Earlier, the National Commissioner of the Association and the state Commissioner, Dr.(Mrs.)Janet Olufayo and Dr.(Mrs) Layeni respectively, emphasized the need for government to pay great attention to programs targeting the children and youth as a step towards reducing social problems in the society.

‘’There should not be any discrimination, we are equal, we should be treated equally irrespective of religion, social background and status’’, the Girls Guide leaders declared.

Frontline feminine activist and university lecturer, Stella Nyanzi has bagged an 18 month jail term for criticising Uganda's President  Yoweri Museveni.

Nyanzi had through a facebook post carpeted Museveni's 33 year rule.

In her reaction Director for East Africa, Amnesty International, Joan Nyanyuki said that “Stella Nyanzi has been criminalised solely for her creative flair of using metaphors and what may be considered insulting language to criticise President Museveni’s leadership''.

“The mere fact that forms of expression are considered insulting to a public figure is not sufficient ground to penalize anyone. Public officials, including those exercising the highest political authority, are legitimately subject to criticism and political opposition.”

“This verdict is outrageous and flies in the face of Uganda’s obligations to uphold the right to freedom of expression for all people in Uganda and demonstrates the depths of the government’s intolerance of criticism,”

“It must be quashed and Stella Nyanzi, who has already suffered enormously for expressing her opinions, left to get on with her life.

“The Ugandan authorities must scrap the Computer Misuse Act 2011 which has been used systematically to harass, intimidate and stifle government critics like Stella Nyanzi.”

Anyanzi was arrested and detained in prison on 2 November 2018, two weeks after she posted a birthday poem considered to be abusive against the President.

The acitivist has already spent 9 months in prison.

Prime Minister of Namibia Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila has decried the  low positions of women in paid employment in the country.

 Kuugongelwa- Amadhila made this position known on Friday at the Namibia Women in Engineering Annual Conference in Ongwediva.

"Women remain at the lowest level of employment and struggle with practical impediments that limit their economic independence and self-sufficiency," the Prime Minister stated.

She  lamented that  Namibia was a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw), the Beijing Platform for Action (1995), the Cedaw Optional Protocol (2000) and the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Declaration on Gender and Development (2005),while noting that  the aim of all these laws, conventions and protocols was to ensure that women have equal opportunities to their male counterparts.

The Prime Minister,however, wondered that despite all these effortslegal equality was yet transform into structural equality.

Safiya Hassan Sheikh Ali Jimale has been appointed the first female Mayor in Somalia.

Safiya Hassan Jimale,  will  oversee the affairs of Beledweyne in central Somalia.

The city  is the capital of Hiiran Province, located in the Shebelle Valley near the border with Ethiopia and about 210 miles north of Mogadishu.

She becomes the second Mayor of the city, which has more than 1,7 million inhabitants, after Beledweyne held municipal elections in 2012, the first since the beginning of the civil war in the early 1990s

Women currently in position of Mayors in  the Africa include Yvonne Aki Sawyerr of Freetown, Sierra Leone, Marie-Chantal Rwakazina of Kigali, Rwanda, Rohey Malick Lowe of Banjul, The Gambia and Soham El Wardani of Dakar, Senegal).

The President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Tuesday empowered 1,000 women entrepreneurs living with disability, under the Presidential Empowerment for Women Entrepreneurs with Disability.

President Akufo Addo, who presented  GH¢2 million  to the women , said ''Having set a fund target of some GH¢4 million, over the next two years, to support disabled women in business, the Ministry of Business Development has so far raised GH¢2 million of the amount. The one thousand (1,000) beneficiaries will not be required to pay any interest on the amounts they are going to receive."

"They will only pay back 50% of the principal advanced to them. This gesture is part of my government's support to our disabled women entrepreneurs, to help them scale up their businesses, and employ more people. We anticipate that, with the monies being given to them today, they will and should be able employ, at least, two persons", the President stated.

Women have been called upon to speak out when they are sexually harassed at  the work place.

This call was made  recently, by Liberia's Assistant Labour Minister for Labour Standards, Atty. Welma Baye Sampson, 

at the Installation of Officers of the Ministry of Labour Women Association (MOLWA), held at the Ministry of Labour in Monrovia.

“Our workplace should be a safe haven. Sexual harassment should not be the basis we change our career path. When we feel we are being sexually harassed, we should not hesitate to speak about it. We should look in the face of our harasser and say stop. If you are too shy, get a sister involved, share with your network and they will find a decent way to approach the harasser.''.

“People use the internet to degrade women, gossip, throw hints and share degrading articles and nude photos about women. Innovation is shaping and changing the way we live as a people and we have to be intentional about its use to positively impact the lives of women and girls. That means, it is time we got involved in making sure that women and girls are not only consumers of innovation, but take our place as innovators.”

“We have been creating awareness on the rights of women at work including paid-for maternity leave, nursing breaks and flexible work schedule for nursing mothers at work'', the Minister concluded.

Also read : Labour Should Pressure President to Assent to New MinimumWage Bill-AWC-https://bit.ly/2F8EyDA

  Lawmakers in Uganda have been called upon not to criminalize prostitution .

This call was made by  Human and women rights activists  during an interaction with at the Uganda Museum in Kampala

The Lutheran Church in Liberia has launched a weekly campaign agianst violence targeted at women and girls.

A Press Release by the Church stated that   such violence,  according to  Rev. Janice Fajue Gonoe,“is not always physical. It can be verbal, psychological, economic. It can involve the environment”. 

Rev. Gonoe, the  director of the LCL HIV and AIDS program, joined 600 people of all ages and backgrounds marching against sexual violence in Liberia’s capital Monrovia. The Lutheran church publicized its commitment to the global campaign in order to bring awareness to the wider society and encourage all Liberians to get involved.

LCL Bishop Dr Jensen Seyenkulo in his address at the launch disclosed that he he learned of Thursdays in Black through his work with The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the World Council of Churches (WCC).

“Joining a global movement that includes brothers and sisters of faith from all over the world helps to underscore the reality that violence is a worldwide problem.”

“Towards a world without rape and violence” is the theme of Thursday’s in Black. The LWF, which has a Gender Justice Policy, has endorsed the initiative started by the WCC in the 1980s as a form of peaceful protest against rape and violence, especially during conflict. Member churches and staff of both organizations are encouraged to dress in black on Thursdays to show individual support for gender justice around the world,'' Bishop Seyenkulo stated.