2022 INTERNATIONAL GIRL CHILD DAY: JAM INITIATIVE CANVASES FOR TREE PLANTING, WARN AGAINST UNDERAGE MARRIAGE

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By: Emmanuel Tortiv

In Commemoration of the 2022 United Nations International Girl Child Day, JAM Initiative for Climate Change and Vulnerable Children, a Non- Governmental Organization (NGO), has called for increased tree planting as a way of combating desertification.

Also, JAM warned against luring girl children into underage marriage.

Coordinator, JAM Initiative, Mr. Toyosi Adenle, who spoke during the tree planting exercise held at LEA Nomadic Primary School Tudun-Fulani, Bwari Area Council, said the need to fight desert encroachment in Nigeria as a nation, cannot be overemphasized as the negative effects of climate change are spreading rapidly.

He expressed dismay over lack of tree planting in our environment and the devastating hazard of it in Nigeria.

Adenle said the negative effect has surfaced through the destruction of lives and property as in the case of the nation’s present predicament of the raging floods in 32 out of 36 States of the federation.

He, therefore, warned that the negative effects of environmental degradation can be disastrous to human existence on earth. As a result of this, the responsibility of tree planting across the country is the business of every citizen; if any meaningful result must be achieved in saving humanity from impending disaster.

Speaking during the ceremony, Head-Teacher, LEA Nomadic Primary School, Tudun-Fulani, Mal. Isah Mohammed commended the NGO for choosing not only to save lives and property from the dangers of environmental degradation but to also ensure that the actual aesthetic of the School environment has come to reality by planting trees.

He called on parents across FCT and beyond to desist from compelling their female children to embrace early marriages. He emphasized that; it is an abusive and ill practice of luring any underage girl to go into early marriage; instead, he advised all parents to send their female children to school for knowledge acquisition that could benefit them in the future when they are due for marriage and become more useful to the nation.

While expressing enthusiasm over the development, Mr. Francis Adaja, a teacher in her speech, said that the action taken by JAM Initiative to plant trees in their school has great relevance which could result in a reduction or elimination of the risk of Global Warming and Climate Change.

Adaja said the JAM Initiative should be sustained.
He advocates for the introduction of tree planting into the school curriculum for a better understanding of the impact of Climate Change.

He promised to sustain what JAM Initiative began by always make out time to engage pupils in planting more trees and flowers to add more value to the school and the environment which could result in natural disaster risk management such as global warming.

On the issue of girl-child underage marriage, Adaja said the narrative about girl-child enrollment in various schools is gradually changing where in most cases today, more girls are enrolled than boys at the primary school level.

The head boy of the school, Danladi Abednego, and some other pupils who spoke on behalf of their colleagues could not hide their joy over the new development of tree planting in their school and good orientation about girl child education. They made a promise to ensure that the 50 trees donated and planted by JAM Initiative will be highly protected by watering them accordingly.