Int’l Day of Girl Child : Youth’s Minister, Olawanda vacates seat for 18 yrs girl 

By Musa Dantani

In other to mark the  International Girl Child Day, the Minister of Youths Development, Ayodele Olawanda has vacated his seat for an 18-years- old winner of IDG National Leadership Essay Competition, Miss Williams Grace from Lagos state to serve as a minister for the period of 24 hours. 

The Minister said ” I vacated my seat for Miss Grace our proud winner of the IDG National Leadership Essay Competition to serve as a minister for one Day.

“Grace is a proud graduate of Cedars International College and she exemplifies the brilliance, confidence and leadership charisma of the girl child in the country. 

“This initiative which we started last year during my time as the minister of state had Miss Esther Adesanya Adesioye becoming the pioneer one day minister. 

“Remains a symbolic gesture to affirm our commitment to nurturing girls’ leadership and amplifying their voices in  national development. 

According to the Minister, the theme of this year ‘The Girl Am I, the Change I lead girls in the Frontline of crisis’ remains us that girls are longer waiting to be saved they are leading in classrooms, Communities and crisis situations.

He said ” We celebrate the courage, innovation and leadership of the Nigerian girl and we remained committed towards ensuring that every girl is empowered to shape her generation and our collective future. 

The Minister acknowledged the dignitaries at the event for their participation and organisations that contributed to the success of the programme especially UNFPA, PLAN International, Gender Mobile Initiative among the others. 

The First Lady of  Kebbi state, Hajia Zainab Nasir Idris represented by the Commissioner of Youths Development, Nura Bala Fingila  stressed that the Kebbi state government is everything possible to ensure all the girls are enrolled into the school. 

He stated that Governor of Kebbi state, Nasir Idris has initiated a lot of programmes that has empowered thousands of Youths and women and is still doing more for them.