Education
EDITORIAL: International Day of the Girl Child — Is There Still Hope For The Boy Child?
Every October 11, the world pauses to celebrate the girl child. Since its declaration by the United Nations General Assembly in 2011, the International Day of the Girl Child has become more than a date on the calendar. It has become a mirror held up to our collective conscience.
And rightly so. For too long, the girl child was an afterthought.
The Day was created to confront uncomfortable truths: child marriage, millions of girls out of school, period poverty that keeps brilliant minds at home, Female Genital Mutilation, sexual and gender-based violence, and the quiet denial of dreams.
At Treasure Newspaper, we applaud this movement. The advocacy has worked. More girls are in classrooms, in STEM labs, in boardrooms and in public office than a decade ago. Laws have been strengthened, voices amplified, and hope restored. This progress must be protected and deepened.
We wish to seize this opportunity to call on the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, who will commence his second term in office on October 16, 2026, to as a matter of urgency establish a special and independent Department for Boy-Child Education and Support, to be domiciled in either the State Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Youth Development, and duly backed by law through the Ekiti State House of Assembly and the Ministry of Justice.
But as we celebrate, we must ask an honest, uncomfortable question: Is there still hope for the boy child?
This is not an attempt to diminish the cause of the girl child. It is an attempt to complete it.
Look around Nigeria today. In several states across the South-West and North-Central, data from schools and communities show a disturbing reversal: boys are dropping out in increasing numbers — not to inherit wealth, but to chase quick money, riding okada, learning Yahoo Yahoo, or joining the desperate tide of irregular migration across the Sahara. Reports from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and police crime statistics tell the same story: young men dominate the figures for cultism, armed robbery, internet fraud, drug abuse and political thuggery.
We have built a robust mentorship ecosystem for the girl child, as we should. But where is the mentorship for the boy child? Who is teaching him what responsible masculinity means in the 21st century?
Many boys grow up without present fathers and without positive male role models, fed by a toxic street culture, music and social media that equate manhood with dominance, money and aggression. We are raising boys who are economically frustrated, emotionally illiterate and morally unanchored.
Here lies the contradiction we must confront: empowerment cannot be zero-sum.
A society that empowers its daughters and abandons its sons is not preparing for equality; it is preparing for a collision. Who will these confident, educated, and ambitious girls marry? Who will they work with? Who will they walk safely past on the streets? Who will build the economy with them? If we raise empowered girls in a society populated by insecure, unskilled and unguided boys, we are simply creating future victims of domestic violence, future widows of broken homes, and future mothers who will raise another generation in fear.
When boys fail, girls are not safe. When boys fail, the nation fails.
Therefore, this year’s International Day of the Girl Child must be a call for a more holistic agenda.
To government: Reintroduce and fund real civic, moral and family-life education in our public schools — not as a formality, but as a core subject. Revive functional and dignified technical and vocational education. Not every boy will become a professor, but every boy can become a productive welder, farmer, coder, creative or artisan.
To schools and religious institutions: We need structured mentorship and counselling programmes for boys. Teach emotional intelligence, respect for consent, work ethic and purpose. The mosque and the church must reclaim their roles as moral compasses, not just miracle centres.
To NGOs and development partners: Your funding template must become balanced. Programming for the girl child is vital, but programming for the boy child is now urgent. Fund community-based boys’ clubs, Big Brother initiatives and rehabilitation programmes for at-risk young men.
We cannot continue to empower one wing and cripple the other and expect the bird of national development to fly.
As we mark this day, let us reaffirm our commitment to the girl child. But let us expand our vision. True gender equality is not about choosing between our children. It is about raising whole children.
We at Treasure Newspaper believe the future we want will only be possible when we raise confident girls and responsible boys together.