22nd
July, 2019
STOP EXPOSING TEENAGE GIRLS
TO IMMORALITY
The Muslim Rights Concern
(MURIC) has raised the alarm over the activities of some online projects and non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) that are exposing Nigerian teenage girls to immoralities. The
Islamic human rights organization cited Adolescent 360 and 9ja Girls as
examples of such projects.
This was
contained in a press statement issued by the Director of MURIC, Professor Ishaq
Akintola, on Tuesday, 2nd July, 2019.
“Our young ones
are being corrupted but Nigerians are silent over this. What will become of a
nation whose mothers of tomorrow are being actively encouraged to think little
of general promiscuity and marital infidelity?
“MURIC wishes to
alert parents to the danger posed by these online projects which, ostensibly, are
for economic empowerment of teenage girls but they are actually exposing the
girls to corruption. Adolescent 360 is executed as 9ja Girls for unmarried
girls in Southern Nigeria and as Matasa Matan Arewa (MMA) in Northern Nigeria
for married adolescent girls.
“Under the guise of giving vocational training to teenage
girls, sex and sexuality are actively encouraged. According to the website of
Adolescent 360 (https://www.psi.org/special-project/adolescents-360/)
the project ‘aims to increase voluntary, modern contraceptive use and reduce
unintended pregnancy among adolescent girls between the ages of 15 and 19 in
Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania’. Adolescent 360 is a baby of an international NGO,
Population Services International (IPS)
“As for the 9ja
Girls project, its website says, ‘When a girl
walks into a 9ja Girls space, she feels emboldened. Inside, amidst affirming
notes from girls, glittery walls, and caring health workers, she can learn a
new trade, have an honest Q&A about her body and feelings, and even take up
a contraceptive method—all of this discreetly and on her terms’ (https://www.ideo.org/project/9ja-girls).
“In essence, our teenage girls are being ‘emboldened’
to make dangerous sexual moves and to have premarital sex as underaged girls under
the guise of vocational training. Parents are deceived into releasing their
teenage girls thinking that such girls are going for some training that will
add value to their lives. Unknown to such parents, their underaged daughters are
being initiated into the world of sexual recklessness. It is a betrayal of
trust. It is atrocious, outrageous and insidious.
“We call the attention of the Ministry of Youth, Ministry of Education
and the Ministry of Health to this ugly phenomenon. In particular, we remind
the Ministry of Education that the Society for
Family Health (SFH) brought the Zip Up project for 15 to 19-year olds around
2004 ostensibly to promote abstinence. It was on the basis of the Zip Up
project that the Ministry later decided to partner with SFH.
“But is the
Ministry of Education aware that the same SFH is involved in Adolescent 360
whose project categorically contradicts abstinence? Is this not the hidden
message in the nomenclature of the project? Are Nigerian teenage girls not
being turned around 360 degrees? Is Adolescent 360 a shortened form of
Adolescent 360 Turn-Around? MURIC is just thinking aloud and we hope Nigerian parents
are not fast asleep.
“Also,
does the Minister of Health know that the Community Health Workers approved to
now insert IUCD in areas where nurses are insufficient are now doing it to
these teenagers who are meant to abstain? Have we totally lost our
family values? When did premarital sex cease from being an anomaly in African
culture? Should 15 to 19-year olds be allowed to make such important decisions
like being sexually active or using contraceptives?
“We must act fast.
The activities of these groups are not restricted to online alone. Since its launch, 9ja Girls project has opened thirteen (13) sites
across nine (9) states, serving 12,438 girls with modern contraception from
January through August 2018. It is expected that by the year 2020, this
projection will reach 69,000. It is the bomb!
“MURIC appeals to the National Assembly to
investigate the activities of these online projects and the extent to which SFH
is involved. No serious nation will leave the fate of its teenage girls in the
hands of alien groups whose values and norms stand in contra-distinction to her
own. The Nigerian society is sitting on a keg of gunpowder as long as the
authorities fail to do the needful in matters like this. It is a disaster
waiting to happen.
“As we draw the curtain, we appeal to Nigerian
teenage girls to reject dangerous and misleading online projects and groups. We
affirm that abstinence is possible. We warn teenagers not to allow morally
bankrupt individuals and groups to mislead them. We charge parents to rise to
their duties in loco parentis. In particular, parents and guardians should
get closer to their children and wards and continually emphasise sexual
discipline”.
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
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