ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
The Rotary International, District 9141, has expressed concern over the rising cases of violence against the girl-child and attacks on female students for the purpose of harvesting human parts for ritual purposes.
The District Governor, District 9141, Mr Andy Uwejeyan, promised that the Rotary would intensify its efforts in the area of enlightenment to tackle the rising wave of violence against the Nigerian girl-child as well as those involved in harvesting human parts for ritual purposes.
He said the enlightenment programme was borne out of the necessity to remove Nigeria’s name from the list of countries associated with such barbaric acts against humanity.
The outgoing DG made this known on Saturday while interacting with reporters at the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital.
He said the issue of violence against the girl-child had become worrisome and had made the girl-child vulnerable, noting that all hands must be on deck to check the ugly development.
Uwejeyan said: “The girl-child is vulnerable in the country and it is worrisome. It is spreading fast. What our clubs have done is to create an awareness campaign to discourage these heinous practices by young men harvesting human parts for money rituals.
“We are going to be making a lot of advocacy and campaign against such practices. And we are going to be advising the young girls about their association with youths with questionable wealth and character.
“We will also engage the youths suspected to be involved. We have also discovered that the young men involved are those that are unemployed and jobless. They are products of the society. They believe that they can sacrifice the virtue of hard work for easy money.”
Uwejeyan, however, pointed out that District 9141, which covers Bayelsa, Edo, Rivers and Delta states, selected over 2,000 girls with 500 girls per state for empowerment.
He said through the empowerment programme, girls would be trained on reusable pads, the building of Rotary centre, botanical garden and micro credit empowerment scheme for the girls and women in the rural areas within the four member states.
He confirmed that Delta and Bayelsa states had approved a large parcel of land for the Rotary and Botanical gardens in Asaba and Yenagoa.
He pointed out that they were expecting Edo and Rivers governors to follow suit in view of their support for Rotary activities and projects.
He said 500 girls in Rivers State had been trained and empowered at first stage of the scheme out of the 2,000 girls slated for training in the four states.
Uwejeran said: “We select beneficiaries based on the recommendations of traditional heads and stakeholders from communities at the grassroots. After selection, we interview them. These are vulnerable girls from rural areas and slums.”
He also noted that District 9141 had earmarked over $650,000 for the Rotary foundation for the purpose of service to humanity, saying that so far they had been able to raise $450,000 for the purpose worldwide.