TheCable

Malala Fund has listed Hamzat Lawal, Follow The Money campaigner and Connected Development (CODE) chief executive, as one of its global education champions. 

Lawal was selected alongside 57 others from around the world to accelerate progress towards girls’ secondary education, following his advocacy for policy and programmatic solutions in the education sector in Nigeria.

He was named alongside other notable Nigerian campaigners: Olabukunola Williams, executive director, Education as a Vaccine (EVA) and Benjamin John, programs manager, Restoration of Hope Initiative (ROHI).

This announcement was made by Maliha Khan, the chief programmes officer at Malala Fund.

According to Khan, as COVID-19 threatens to force millions of more girls out of school, Champion-led programmes and advocacy work is now even more important.

Reacting to the announcement, Lawal said “it is an honour to be listed to contribute to the fight for a right to education, especially for the girl child in Africa. The increasing number of out-of-school children especially in Nigeria’s North, continues to be an issue of great concern”.

“Statistics show that for every 100 boys of primary age out of school, 121 girls are denied the right to education, worsening gender-based discrimination, and putting girls at a disadvantage.

“Issues of water, sanitation and hygiene, and in many cases, insecurity affecting the delivery of education in conflict-affected areas, are also factors driving children – particularly girls – away from the classroom.”

Lawal is expected to use CODE’s Follow The Money model to train and launch citizen-led teams to identify barriers to girls’ education in Adamawa state, northeast Nigeria.

The team will advocate for and track the state’s spending on education and encourage government officials to invest in gender-responsive school infrastructure in creating conducive learning and safe space for girls to reach their full potential in life.

Education has remained one of Follow The Money’s focal thematic areas, through which the initiative has facilitated the provision of several school amenities and infrastructure across grassroots communities in Nigeria (through several social accountability mechanisms).

It also led civil society campaigns for the amendment of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act.

Hamzat Lawal has also championed and co-organized other key campaigns for girl-child education in northern Nigerian stressing that even during crisis, education cannot wait for girls.