The European Union has called for stronger investment in girls’ education and targeted measures to end child marriage, warning that millions of girls worldwide remain excluded from classrooms and continue to face early and forced marriages.
Head of the EU Delegation to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States, Ambassador Gautier Mignot, said approximately 129 million girls were out of school globally, while about 12 million girls were affected by child marriage annually.
Mignot warned that, at the current pace of progress, ending child marriage could take as long as 300 years, according to United Nations assessments. He said addressing the problem required interventions that tackled the structural inequalities preventing girls from accessing education and exposing them to harmful practices.
The envoy spoke on Monday at the grand finale of the 2026 National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies and EU inter-secondary school debate at the NILDS headquarters in Abuja. The event was organised to commemorate the International Day of the Girl Child.
The debate centred on the motion, “Empowering the Girl Child Is More Effective Than Punishing Offenders in Ending Child Marriage.”
Mignot explained that the EU’s Gender Action Plan III was designed to advance gender equality, with at least 85 per cent of EU-funded projects expected to incorporate gender considerations. He also pledged that the winning team would visit the EU Delegation to learn about its development programmes and initiatives promoting gender equality.
Government Day Secondary School, Dutse, Abuja, emerged overall winner with 89 per cent and received the grand prize of N1 million. Government Science Secondary School, Maitama, finished second with 76 per cent and won N500,000.
Ambassador Global Academy, Kwali, placed third and received N250,000, while Baptist High School, Kubwa, came fourth with a prize of N100,000.
Director-General of NILDS, Professor Abubakar Sulaiman, urged governments at all levels to increase investment in public education. He said the students’ performances demonstrated the ability of public schools to produce impressive results despite funding challenges.
Sulaiman also stressed the importance of empowering girls through education and called on the media to publicise the achievements of female students while sustaining advocacy against child marriage and other harmful practices.
Lead speaker of the winning team, Grace Onuoha, pledged to sensitise her classmates about the dangers of child marriage and encourage girls to speak out against abuse.
The event highlighted education, public awareness and institutional action as important elements in efforts to protect girls and expand their opportunities.
