By Jethro Ibileke
No fewer than 100 female athletes have converged for the 4th edition of the Female Taekwondo Championship organized by the Youth Empowerment Foundation (YEF) to raise awareness about gender-based violence against the girl-child.
Participating athletes, drawn from various states of the federation including Abia, Cross River, Delta, Oyo, Ondo, Edo, and Ekiti States, will compete for prizes in several categories.
The championship, which holds at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin, Edo State, on Saturday, November 1, 2025, began on Friday, October 31, with training sessions for the athletes on gender-based violence—how to identify it and protect themselves against it.
The Programme Officer of YEF, Tony Eleme, disclosed that the purpose of the event is to empower the girl-child with knowledge about gender-based violence.
He explained that one of the foundation’s core intervention areas in youth empowerment is sports development, using Taekwondo and football.
He said: “We so much believe in girl-child empowerment. We feel that when the girl-child is empowered, the whole nation is empowered. We use these to build the life skills of young girls, to build their leadership skills and their self-esteem.
“Because of the fact that there is so much increase in gender-based violence in our society, we deem it fit that it is something we need to work on so that they can defend themselves, stay confident, and raise their self-esteem.
“We believe that when you build the sporting skills of the girl-child, you’re also building her self-confidence, decision-making skills, and of course, her value and relationship skills. We so much believe in using sports to do this.”
Besides the possibility of defending themselves against gender-based violence to some extent, Eleme explained that the training equips the athletes with the right orientation to identify sexual and gender-based violence around them.
“Most times, some of these girls may be abused or exploited, and they are not aware.
“So, when you build their skills using sports, emphasizing the dangers and risks associated with gender-based violence, they quickly identify when they are abused and report appropriately. That is one of the reasons we are doing this today,” he added.
Earlier in his lecture, the Edo State Coordinator of Child Protection Network Nigeria, Dr. Nosakhare Erumwunse, noted that while both males and females suffer from gender-based violence, females are more often violated than their male counterparts by over 70 percent.
He explained that a girl who has acquired Taekwondo skills can hardly be raped because she knows where to strike on the attacker’s body to disarm him.
Erumwunse, however, warned that those trained should never use the skill to fight for fun, adding: “If you have such tactics, you should not use them to fight. When you are challenged to a fight, run away, because if you hit, you can kill.”
He advised the athletes to always strive to be competent through hard work.
“Your essence of being here is not only to compete, but to build your resilience, your self-esteem, and your self-worth. Your relevance depends on your competence. Your competence determines how you are rated or respected. So, let your competence be your relevance,” he said.
Transcript of Interview with Tony Eleme
The purpose of the event is to empower the youth. We so much believe in girl-child empowerment. We feel that when the girl-child is empowered, the whole nation is empowered.
Because of the increase in gender-based violence in our society, we deem it fit that it is something we need to work on so that they can defend themselves, stay confident, and raise their self-esteem.
We believe that when you build the sporting skills of the girl-child, you are also building her self-confidence, decision-making skills, and, of course, her value and relationship skills. We so much believe in using sports to do this.
One of our core intervention areas is sports development, and in sports development, we focus on Taekwondo and football—using these skills to build the life skills of young girls, develop their leadership and self-esteem, and enable them to defend themselves from gender-based violence to some extent. We also give them the right orientation to identify sexual and gender-based violence around them because most times, some of these girls may be abused or exploited without being aware. So, when you build their skills using sports and emphasize the dangers and risks associated with gender-based violence, they quickly identify when they are abused and report appropriately. That is one of the reasons we are doing this today.
We have athletes from Abia, Cross River, Delta, Oyo, Ondo, and Ekiti States. They will be competing in several categories and for different prizes. We have to weigh and categorize them.
We have a series of awards, recognitions, certificates, and medals for all the participating athletes.
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