Period poverty is a global problem affecting millions of women and girls who don’t have access to safe, hygienic menstrual products they need, and/or who are unable to manage their periods with dignity, sometimes due to community stigma and sanctions.

According to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme 2012, menstrual hygiene management is defined as:

“Women and adolescent girls using clean menstrual management materials to absorb or collect menstrual blood, that can be changed in privacy as often as necessary, using soap and water for washing the body as required, and having access to safe and convenient facilities to dispose of used menstrual management materials. They understand the basic facts linked to the menstrual cycle and how to manage it with dignity and without discomfort or fear.”

In June 2021, the former Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, disclosed that in Nigeria, over 37 million women and girls of reproductive age lack access to menstrual hygiene products due to lack of funds.

Many young women and girls in Nigeria, especially in rural areas, are struggling with menstrual hygiene management due to period poverty. This occurs when there is a lack of or inadequate access to menstrual hygiene products, including sanitary pads, and the absence of adequate information about menstrual health.

Though period poverty is a global problem, it is more prevalent in poorer countries.

Considering the increasingly high cost of menstrual products in Nigeria, that means every month, more than 37 million girls and women are unable to safely manage their periods, limiting their ability to study, work, and live their lives. While this is an unfortunate situation that has become normal in Nigeria, it still doesn’t make the situation less alarming.

On average, women and girls use one pack of eight or ten sanitary pads for each menstrual cycle, which occurs once every month. However, many indigent girls and women are forced to use unsafe products instead.

Menstrual Hygiene Management is essential to the well-being and empowerment of women and adolescent girls. On any given day, more than 300 million women worldwide are menstruating. In total, an estimated 500 million lack access to menstrual products and adequate facilities for menstrual hygiene management (MHM).

To effectively manage their menstruation, girls, and women require access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities, affordable and appropriate menstrual hygiene materials (PADs), information on good practices, and a supportive environment where they can manage menstruation without embarrassment or stigma.

PROJECT OUTCOME:
– Successful training of 200 students and selected teachers (Train the Trainers), with whom we shall be working for the next phase of the project.
– The establishment of a Period Class for continuous sensitization and awareness campaigns both within the school and the host community (Ibagwa-Aka).
– Distribution of pads to all participants and donation of the same to the school.

We sincerely appreciate our partners whose contributions made this project a huge success. We also extend our gratitude to the Principal, Management, Staff, and Students of Girls Secondary School, Ibagwa-Aka, for their maximum cooperation towards the implementation of the project.

While we continue to work towards the growth of the Club and Phase 2 of the project, we solicit your support for the production of sensitization materials, reusable pads, and the construction of toilets.

DONATION RANGE FOR PADS:
N400 – 1 Pad
N2,000 – 5 Pads
N4,000 – 10 Pads
N6,000 – 15 Pads
N8,000 – 20 Pads
N12,000 – 30 Pads

Account Name: EZE PATIENCE FOUNDATION
Bank: United Bank of Africa (UBA)
Account No: 1021479260

For sponsorship and partnership call: 08068342778/0814 970 4117
www.epfnigeria.org

Every 11th of October is observed as the International Day of the Girl, this is simply because girls are disadvantaged and are on daily basis deprived of their fundamental human rights.

In 2021, the Generation Equality Forum launched five-year commitments for bolder solutions to gender inequality – just as the world entered the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to UNICEF, while the pandemic has accelerated digital platforms for learning, earning, and connecting, some 2.2 billion people below the age of 25 still do not have internet access at home.

Girls are more likely to be cut off. The gender gap for global internet users grew from 11 percent in 2013 to 17 percent in 2019. In the world’s least developed countries, it hovers around 43 percent.

Globally, there are so many factors working against the girl child at the moment especially in the developing countries. Statistically, it is recorded that millions of illiterate girls who never enrolled in schools or dropped out of schools due to poverty, early marriage, and pregnancy have little hope to be part of the digital generation.

This year, the theme for the International Day of the Girl Child is “‘Digital Generation, Our Generation.”
EPF Nigeria, is restating her commitment towards ensuring that girls, especially in the rural communities in Nigeria can benefit from the technology revolution that has reshaped the life of every human.

As it is, only by addressing the inequity and exclusion that span geographies and generations can we usher in a digital revolution for all, with all.

Education is a tool for national development, and children are the leaders of tomorrow. There won’t be a brighter Nigeria if the children lack quality education. Nursery and Primary schools are the foundation of every other institution of learning. If the foundation is faulty, that means the building will be a total disaster.

Nigerian children are facing problems in their educational career due to so many factors, among which is their parents’ inability to take care of them because of poverty, and sometimes separation as husband and wife, and the ineffectiveness of the Nigerian government. The major obstructing factor to child’s education in Nigeria is uncontrollable corruption that is rampant among Nigerian leaders. This has strongly affected the standard of education across the nation.

• The legality of Child’s Education in Nigeria

The following provisions provide the legal rights for a child to have access to education under Nigerian law. Section 15 of the Nigerian Child Act 2003 provides that a child has the right to free, compulsory, and universal basic education and the parents should ensure that their children attend primary and junior secondary school as stated in the Act. It further states that any parents who fail to send their children to school would be reprimanded for the first conviction while the amount of N2000 or one month’s imprisonment would be imposed for a second conviction. The amount of N5000 or two months imprisonment or both is prescribed as punishment for subsequent convictions (Federal 2003). The strategy to be educated is to pursue knowledge anywhere and anytime. So, parents should be well prepared to educate their children as educating them is a way of preparing them for their future responsibilities and also giving them the power to get their rights in a legal way.

2.1 Government’s Roles to Formalize Child’s Education in Nigeria

It has been analyzed in the previous lines that education plays an important role in human life. Therefore, it is the Nigerian government’s duty and responsibility to formalize the education system in Nigeria starting from primary school up to the university level. The Nigerian government documented unprecedented growth at all levels of education between 1976 and 1980 at the primary, secondary, and university levels (Onyeonoru 2007; fyfe and Jankanish 1997; Egbokhare 2007). The present situation of education in Nigeria is far detached and cannot be compared with the situation in 1976 to 1980.

So, the education system should be made free to all children from primary to junior secondary school regardless of their status and financial capacity. If the Ministry of Education removes all their defects by providing free education as a universal compulsory basic education for all children, quality educational provision for rural and urban areas, adequately trained teachers, facilities, and free food for the needy, and free stationery for poor students, sound and standard of education will be impacted to the citizens as the best interests of the children and the nation at large. If the government could fully implement those methods of child education, it would attract and retain children in schools (Nelien 2000).

Pre-school education should be strengthened by the Federal and State Ministry of education in Nigeria, in particular, to incorporate drop-out children and working children into schools. The project will give more enthusiasm for an interest in school among working children, their parents, and teachers. It is the government’s duty to provide early free childhood education and children should be taught about their rights and duties to themselves and the nation throughout their curriculum and syllabus (Fafunwa 2002).

Legal Solution

Due to the percentage of corruption in Nigeria and its grave impact towards the education, deterrent punishment from all Nigerian legal system should be implemented on the corrupt leader, official, staff, and other in order to curb and control corruption that is rocking the educational system in Nigeria, for the interest of children and the nation at large.

Finally,

The following can be implemented for the reshaping, upgrading, and recapturing of the standard of Nigerian education in the interest of Nigerian children and the nation at large. It is discovered that school maintenance is beyond individual capacity. So, it is only the government that can provide free and standard education with all the educational facilities and good salaries that will attract and create a good standard of education in the nation.

The simple fact is that standard private schools are too costly for many Nigerian parents to afford. As a result of that, many children lack the opportunity to have sound education due to the financial constraints of their parents and the poor standard of public schools across the nation. Similarly, NGOs and some external aid agencies can also play commendable and useful roles in reshaping education in Nigeria and raising it to world standard.

The question is the extent of the capacity and capability of the NGOs to reach the state of equilibrium that will restructure the educational situation in the country (Bray 1999). As a matter of fact, with the huge population of Nigerian Children, the NGOs do not have the capacity to provide for all children’s educational needs unless the government is committed and dedicated to fulfilling its fundamental responsibilities by making funds available. NGOs should also avoid tribalism and religious sentiment in their activities.

They should not favour one tribe or religion against another faith in their activities otherwise they will truncate their main objective and purpose which is paving the way for sound child education. In addition, mosques and churches can also contribute indirectly, if they cannot do so directly by way of raising funds to purchase stationery for school children (Bray 1999).

Obviously, it is not only households and communities who should be the contributors for school building construction and purchasing stationery but in the current situation that Nigeria children are experiencing, the household, communities, philanthropists, and ecclesiastical places should all get involved to save children from darkness and ignorance.

Their participation in uplifting the education system can also be likened to their involvement in security and family protection activities as vigilantes. If they could do that for their property and life, they can also get involved in making sound education accessible and possible for children.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that there is an urgent and quick need for government, NGO, local, International Organizations, and individuals to support in the fight against all the hindrances that are confronting the Nigerian educational system in order to perfect Nigerian children’s education. The rate of corruption, strike, lack of seriousness, illegalities, and irregularities that dominate the Nigerian Ministry of Education must be legally looked into and the guilty officials and staff must be punished as a lesson and deterrent to others.

A stitch in time saves nine…

Queen Promise Chidimma Idoko

Miss Tourism

Ada Ibagwa-Aka Pageant

Still feels like dream!

It is with deep pain but in total submission to the will of the Almighty God that we write to commiserate with you and the entire Iwuoha family on the sad demise of your beloved father, a Nollywood veteran, Late Chief Bruno Iwuoha who slept in the Lord on Saturday 10 April, 2021.

Late Chief Bruno Iwuoha

The news of Daddy’s passage came to us with a rude shock that as a family we are still struggling to come to term with. It is indeed a painful one not only to his children and wife, but to all of us at the EPF Nigeria Team. Daddy served as an active Volunteer Member of EPF Nigeria until his death.

He was a God lover with a heart of gold. His examplenary Christian lifestyle is evidence to all, he lived for the service of God and Humanity. He was a Father to all. This is indeed a challenging moment for your family members and all of us but we cannot mourn like those without hope for eternity.

We are consoled because we know that Daddy is already resting in the bosom of the Almighty God whom he loved so much and served even until his death.

As we prepare to bid him farewell, please be assured that you are close to our thoughts and prayers especially at this period when grieve tends to overwhelm us. May the Almighty God grant you his children, Mummy and all the people that he left behind the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss, and may his soul find eternal rest in the bosom of our Lord. Amen!

EPF Nigeria Team lost a Legend

See you on the resurrection morning!

Adieu Daddy Bruno!

Patience Nnedinso Eze

Executive Director