Why 'Girls for Sale'? You Might Ask

Teacher’s Diary

‘Girls for Sale’ is my soon to be released movie which story I’ve written with the secondary reason of engendering a reflection of the female child’s emotional and body-image struggles as she comes into puberty and beyond.

In GIRLS FOR SALE- THE CERVICAL CANCER STORY, every female has typical feminine contentions and represents real life issues experiences in the general female population. This is basically what I’m trying to reveal, and hoping the dramatisation of the story would do justice to.

Elo, of the story, obviously had no sex education. With a zero fore-knowledge of how far to go with a boy, she gets pregnant. Many teenage girls continue to be caught up with this kind of predicament by: teenage sweethearts, pervert relations, neighbours and benefactors. Sex education in our primary and secondary schools appear to be currently ineffective at preparing our youngsters for their fast budding bodies. Where available they inadequately offer constructive ways to manage the avalanche of emotions characteristic of adolescence.

Naive teenaged Elo couldn’t read between the lines to see how far gone street-wise Tega was in matters of copulation and sex. An older Elo figure she must marry at all cost since she has a child outside wedlock. For family honour sake she bore Tega’s violations and made her body- pricelessly available whenever Tega was home.

The pervert house-girl practices her nymphomaniac tendencies on Tega. She ‘sells’ her sexuality at a give-away price. One is tempted to think that she’s a little skimmer who has hoped she could climb into wealth with a child for Tega. On the other hand, she may be just like Tega, herself violated as she came into puberty, and her sexuality groomed too quickly with the potential powers of it prematurely and distortedly understood. Sex for the house-girl of this story is second nature.

Elo’s parents look on foolishly as their daughter is violated by Tega. They put up no challenges about Ode’s paternity. They hope for the day they would marry their daughter off. In this wise she is nothing but a piece of ‘sale’ item to give away for next to nothing.
Many girls are on sale abroad – in the diaspora. They are readily consenting in their quest for sexual gratification due to easily accessible contraceptives. Unfortunately, contraceptives do not prevent girls and ladies contracting sexually transmitted diseases like the HIV, gonorrhea and chlamydia.

‘Girls for Sale’ decries a society ignorance of the causes of venereal diseases in women. Cervical cancer is about the second largest cancer women suffer. We neither have enough HPV vaccine for our budding 13-year-olds in Nigeria nor a national cervical screen programme for all sexually active women. Cervical cancer is however preventable and treatable when effective awareness is given it. GIRLS FOR SALE -The Cervical Cancer Story hopes to effectively pass this messages on.

Omoru writes from the UK

Under teacher’s diary

NUT Calls for Constitutional Amendment on Prompt Payment of Teachers’ Salary
Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has called on members of the National Assembly to commence immediate constitutional amendment that will allow the state government to handle the payment of teachers’ salary so as to improve the quality and standard of education in the country.
The union said the continued handling of the payment of teachers’ salaries by the 774 local government councils in the country would not move education forward in the country.

The Kwara State Secretary of the union, Ola Idris, who made the call in Ilorin while speaking on the state of education in the country, said “the continued undertaking of payment of teachers’ salary under the watch of local government councils nationwide has affected the quality and standard of education in the country.”

He said most often than not, funds meant for teachers’ salary has been allegedly mismanaged by the appropriate authorities at the local government councils level which hitherto has affected the prompt payment of salaries.
“Teachers remain a major tool for the provision of quality and standard education hence they should be accorded priority in the payment of their dues so as to ginger them to be up and doing towards the growth of education.”

He stressed that “a teacher that is not paid as and when due will not be willing to teach students with full commitment and this may have serious effect on the students at the end of the day especially in their results.”
Idris noted that teachers’ motivation through the payment of their salaries without any delay would boost their morale and this would improve the quality of education of the students.
He therefore said the only way to achieve the gesture is to ensure the transfer of the payment of teachers’ salaries to the state government so as to bring about the educational advancement of the country.