Niamey, 6th July 2019. The Ministers in Charge of Women, Social Affairs and Child protection of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met today, 6th July 2019 ahead of the First Ladies’ Summit on the declaration to end child marriage and promote girl-child education in West Africa.

The ECOWAS First Ladies are meeting on the 7th of July 2019 on the margins of the African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government Summit to reinforce their commitment to eliminate child marriage and promote the education of the girl-child.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Madam Finda E.M. Koroma, the Vice President of the ECOWAS Commission, thanked the Ministers for their commitment to fighting the scourge of child marriage and the promotion of girl-child education.

Madam Eback Zeinabou Tari Bako, the Minister in Charge of Women Affairs and Child Protection of Niger, while delivering her opening remarks noted that West Africa is the most affected region in regards to early marriage in the world as, out of the ten (10) most affected countries in the World, six (06) are in the region.

She added that many girls in West and Central Africa drop out of school before they get to secondary school. This, she said, makes it difficult for the region to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goals 4 and 5.

She therefore recommended girl-child education as an efficient way to improve human capital and to address the problem of child-marriage.

The Ministerial meeting precedes the First Ladies Summit, which will hold on the 7th of July 2019 on the margins of the AU Summit.