Emir of Kano Encourages Northerners To Educate Their Girls Rather Than Building More Mosques

Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, says he is tired of receiving letters from some Northerners requesting for financial help to build a mosque instead of educating the girl-child in the region.

The emir expressed his frustration at the low level of girl child education in the North during a conference on Islamic finance organized by the International Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance (IIIBF) at Bayero University, Kano yesterday January 19th.

“I’m just tired of people coming to me to say I want to build a new mosque. You know, we keep building mosques and our daughters are illiterate. So, my appeal is that if you really want to help Kano, don’t come to me with a request to build a N300 million mosque because I have enough mosques everywhere. And if I don’t have a mosque, I’ll build it myself. If you really want to help, go and educate a girl child in the village. It is not a mere coincidence that this is where you have the highest levels of illiteracy, early marriage, divorce and the highest levels of domestic violence. People need to understand that the law has to change. If you look at the medical data on maternal health, girls who get pregnant below the age of 15 are five times as likely to die as girls who get pregnant at the age of 20. Those who get pregnant under 18 are twice as likely to die as those who get pregnant at the age of 20. so its important that we look at this issue of early marriage. If you look at the statistics, 48 percent of girls from the age of 15 to 19 in northwestern Nigeria are married, but that’s not all, 75 percent of these girls cannot read and write. Imagine what society we are creating"he said