Female students from Makoko, a slum in Lagos, will today participate in a swimming and basketball clinic that could inspire them to take to sports as a liberation tool from the exigencies of their area and other vices that have not helped the development of many of them.
It is one of the programmes marking the International Day Of The Girl Child in Nigeria today.
The International Day Of The Girl Child is a United Nations observance programme meant to increase their awareness on gender inequality and create more opportunities for girls.
And today’s programme will attempt to do just that for the students of Makoko who will be at the Basketball court of the National Stadium and the Swimming Pool at the nearby Teslim Balogun Stadium for the sports programmes that will include a talk show, film show, basketball and swimming clinics.
Nigeria’s first ever Olympic gold medallist, Chioma Ajunwa, will be among those to give talks to the children on the need to stay away from drugs, avoid teenage pregnancies and other vices.
School teachers, swimming and coaching instructors will also participate in the programme, an initiative of Nneka Ikem Anibeze, a sports journalist of repute. Nneka said that “it is estimated that over 35,000 kids live in the Makoko slum with a high rate of teenage pregnancies.”
