The Coordinator, Office of the First Lady, Akwa Ibom State, Lady Helen Eno Obareki has called for action to be taken in the enforcement of the rights of the Girl Child beyond advocacy talk shop, that is not impactful.
The First Lady Designate stated this on Thursday, July 24, 2025, while speaking at the Sam Momah Annual Lecture tagged “The Girl Child: Building Stakeholders’ Buy-In,” and Commissioning of a Reading Room and Conference Centre, at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH) conference hall.
Represented by the Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Hon. Emem Ibanga, Lady Obareki noted that investing in the Girl Child means putting in place a sustainable strategy for peace, progress and prosperity.
“Advocacy alone is not enough. We must move from awareness to action, from compassion to commitment, and from talk to transformation.
“When we invest in girls, we are not doing charity. We are executing a sustainable strategy for peace, progress and prosperity,” she remarked.
The Coordinator said that the Office of the First Lady, in alignment with the Arise Agenda, has recorded impressive strides towards giving the Girl Child a voice in the state.
She mentioned such strides to include the housing of over 800 orphans and vulnerable children in the state-run orphanages, enforcement of the Child’s Rights Law, with more than 200 abuse and exploitation cases prosecuted in Family Courts since May 2023, as well as the prohibition of Child hawking and child labour during school hours.
Others are the establishment of Children’s Parliament in all 31 Local Government Areas of the state, rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration of Baby factory victims, among other achievements.
The Executive Secretary of Sam Momah Foundation, Dr Tobe Momah, said that the foundation established in honour of his late father, General Sam Momah was aimed at promoting reading culture in Nigeria and Africa at large.
Dr. Momah, noted that as measures to carry out its core mandate, the foundation puts together reading competitions for students across the country and donates books to libraries and schools.
Earlier in a keynote address, Dr. Grace Matemavi, Associate Professor of Surgery, University of Mississippi Medical Center, called on governments and all relevant bodies to join hands in investing in the future of the Girl Child.
Dr. Matemavi mentioned key strategies to achieving this to include encouraging the Girl Child to align their passions with a sense of purpose, provision of mentorship programmes for them, provision of sponsorship and coaching opportunities, among other strategies.
High points of the event were the presentation of an award of Recognition to Lady Obareki in honour of her outstanding contributions to the empowerment and development of the Girl Child, presentation of prizes to winners of the Sam Momah Essay competition, as well as the inauguration of the Sam Momah Reading Room and Conference Centre, UUTH performed by the First Lady Designate.
