Following the increasing cases of Gender based Violence (GBV), government, stakeholders and parents have been advised to encourage girl-child to engage in sporting activities as a form of defence mechanism.

A cross Section of Speaker in Abuja at series of activities organised for an awareness on GBV emphasised the need to train girl-child on self defense.

The Executive Secretary, Youth Empowerment Foundation (YEF), Mrs Iwalola Akin-Jimoh said there was the need for girls to be aware whether they are at risk or not, if they are survivors of the menace of GBV and where they can get care.

She stressed that the sport remained a potent weapon against GBV and other violent crimes in the society.

”Part of our areas of focus is sports and we use different sports, football and taekwondo in particular to teach life skills like self confidence, self esteem, communication, team building.

”We work mainly with girls and the reason for this is because it’s almost automatic for parents to allow boys to play football and sports generally but a lot of parents don’t allow their girls to do sports.

”We wanted to encourage those girls, we also encourage parents to also allow their girls to do sport, so we wanted to create a safe space for girls that they can communicate with and interact with themselves, enjoy themselves and learn from each other,” she said.

Akin-Jimoh added that the female taekwondo is the third edition of its kind which helps girls not only for self defense but also for their mental alertness and also for them to respond better to conflict.

‘We are training the girls not to be beating up their peers but what we are training then in is to have that skill of self confidence so that anywhere they are and go they can defend themselves,” she said.

She also advocated for the teaching of taekwondo in schools to enhance the spirit of sportsmanship, self esteem, self confidence, which are crucial for girls to know while they are in schools.

A parent, Adiza Judah, called on the Federal Ministry of Education to stress the importance of sports in the curriculum saying this will encourage children and wards to engage in sporting activities.

The campaign against Gender based and other Sexual crime brought together Girls from selected Schools in the Federal Capital Territory, who participated in Quiz competition, GBV Training and Sports Development.