(IMCreator/Rod Waddington)
When I was First Lady of Kwara State (in north-central Nigeria) from 2003 to 2011, I was invited every January to a hospital to meet the first baby of the year. This was one of my favorite parts of being First Lady because the tangible energy that accompanied the start of a new year was amplified every single time that I held the first newborn of the year in my arms. This energy was magnified because the potential of every young life is so evident that you can feel it in the air. You can feel it in the love between a mother and a child. And you can feel it in the buzz of the maternity ward. That feeling that every newborn is a fresh start and a new hope with limitless potential - that this child could grow up and change the world. This same energy of potential is especially evident today, as we gather around the world to celebrate International Youth Day.
The Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA) and I have long known the potential power of youth. For over a decade, WBFA has implemented scholarship programmes for promising students in Nigeria as well as providing textbooks and other equipment to schools in Kwara State. In 2013, we worked to empower youth, through sports and supported Netball Nigeria and UNICEF in a pilot programme that targeted 28 schools in 4 Nigerian states, with the aim of promoting high quality, gender- and special needs- sensitive sports, in schools across the country. Through our frontline programmes such as the Alaafia Universal Health Coverage Fund (AUHCF), WBFA and I have sought to empower adolescent girls by providing quality health insurance for young girls of childbearing age that allows them to take control of their healthcare and educate themselves about their health at this transitional period of their lives. Moreover, through our work to reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality, we seek to ensure that more young people can have the best possible start in life - as healthy and happy young babies with their mothers.
This year, International Youth Day focuses on civic engagement and ways that youth can take part in civil society, to shape their future. This theme is truly inspiring as I witnessed first-hand the power of engaged young voters in the recent Nigerian election, with young people making up half of the country's population, driving social media campaigns, and participating in the daily activities of their chosen political party. A large part of youth civic engagement in the election was due to burgeoning and encouraging numbers of educated young people across Nigeria. Education is crucial to political, social, and economic empowerment, particularly with our youth. Educating our youth allows them to escape the poverty cycle, carve their own path, and engage with the world around them.
Yet, sadly so many young girls are being kept out of the classroom in Nigeria due to the violence of Boko Haram. Out of the 57 million youngsters around the world who are not receiving a formal education, over 10 million live in Nigeria - the highest number in the world - many of whom are girls living in northern Nigeria. Being kept out of school not only prevents these girls from gaining an education but also keeps them out of the political process and civic engagement to the detriment of Nigeria as a whole. Without an education, these young girls are stripped of a voice and their potential goes unrealised. As a nation, we cannot continue to ignore the voice and potential of over half of our young people. As a nation, we must Bring Back Our Girls and get our girls back into school because as we saw with Malala Yousafzai, one educated girl can change the world, as we know it.
Education for our young people, especially our girls, is the silver bullet in the post-2015 sustainable development era, because it can transform lives and have an impact that is felt across generations. As proud institutional signatories to the Girl Declaration, supporters of the Girl Effect, and partners of the Girls, Not Brides movement, WBFA and I are working to help more adolescent girls realise their potential, engage with their communities, and change the world. The feeling that I felt every January in Kwara is the same feeling that I feel today when I think about the potential of Nigeria's young girls in school. Every single one of them has limitless potential. Every single one of them matters. And every single one of them could change the world.