ON Tuesday, the Senate came out to say it has not endorsed underage marriage by amending section 29 (a) of the 1999 Constitution.
This followed widespread condemnation of the resolution to retain the aspect of the law that states that “A woman who is married is of age.”
In a statement released by Chairman of Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, the Senate noted that the Child Rights Acts stipulates 18 years as the minimum age for marriage in Nigeria.
“The National Assembly in 2003 had passed ‘The Child Rights Act’, which specifically took care of the fears being expressed in a cross section of the media. The Act clearly states in section 21: ‘No person under the age of 18 years is capable of contracting a valid marriage, and accordingly, any marriage so contracted is null and void and of no effect whatsoever.
‘22.1. No parent, guardian or any other person shall betroth a child to any person. 2. A betrothal in contravention of subsection (1) of this section is null and void.’”
The statement however noted that the Child Rights Act, and the penalties of N500,000 fine or five-year imprisonment that issue from it, is not binding on all states until they domesticate the law, which it noted 12 states are yet to do
“The snag is that the Child Right Act does not automatically apply across the country. It has to be domesticated on state by state basis by the respective Houses of Assembly.
“Up to date, 12 states are yet to domesticate or adopt the law. It is with respect to those states that the advocacy on age of marriage should be directed since.”
Despite the Senate’s attempt to clear the controversy, the girl-child lags behind in education in Nigeria and one of the factors responsible is child marriage.
The effect of under-age marriage on the education of the girl-child in Nigeria is particularly prominent in the north.
The girl-child, according to statistics, is on the lowest rung of the education ladder. This is besides the health implication of underage pregnancy for the girl-child. In the North, for instance, many underage girls risk Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) when they become pregnant.
Last month, the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics (UIS) noted that with 10.5 million (computed in 2010), Nigeria has the largest number of the world’s 57 million out-of-school children.
According to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) Nigeria website (http://www.unicef.org/nigeria/children_1937.html), children, especially girls, in northern Nigeria make up the larger chunk of the 40 per cent of those that do not attend primary schools. The website also listed under-age marriage as a factor for not attending or dropping out of school.
The website said: “Forty per cent of Nigerian children aged 6-11 do not attend any primary school with the Northern region recording the lowest school attendance rate in the country, particularly for girls. Despite a significant increase in net enrolment rates in recent years, it is estimated that about 4.7 million children of primary school age are still not in school.
“Another challenge in Nigeria is the issue of girls’ education. In the North particularly, the gender gap remains wide and the proportion of girls to boys in school ranges from one girl to two boys to one to three in some states.
“Most parents do not send their children, especially girls, to school and prefer to send them to Qur’anic schools rather than formal schools.
“According to current data, 30 per cent of pupils drop out of primary school and only 54 per cent transit to Junior Secondary Schools. Reasons for this low completion rate include child labour, economic hardship and early marriage for girls.”
As a corps member teaching English and other subjects at the Government Demonstration Secondary School (GDSS) in Dandin-Mahe, Shagari Local Government of Sokoto State, Ibidun Adegbule (not real name) saw first hand how under-age marriage affected the education of girls. In an interview with The Nation, Adegbule, who completed his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) last month, said few girls stayed up to Senior Secondary (SS2) in the school, and none made it to SS3. By Junior Secondary School (JSS3), most were married off and never returned to school.
He said: “The people who are shouting about early marriage are from the South. It is part of their lives over there. During my Service, we only had many girls in the school in JSS1. They get married between JSS1 and JSS3. And once they are married, the school authorities inform us and we don’t see them again. In SS3 class, there was no girl at all. We had only two girls in SS2. The educated among the parents in the village only allow their children to get that far. There was only one female student in JSS3 who said she would complete her education before getting married. She is already engaged.
“Because the girls do not stay up till SS classes, the Head Girl is usually a JSS3 pupil. All the female prefect roles are given to JSS3 pupils. If you tell them they should finish their education, they say, ‘Mallam no o.’ they want to marry like it is in their culture.”
While some argue that the marriage of underage girls is permitted by Islam, others argue that the Quran does not stipulate that girls should be married off at that age. Muslims, who are against child marriage, say the education of the girl-child is paramount.
An Islamic scholar and the Baba Adinni of Lagos, Sheik Abdul Abou, describes under-age marriage as “blocking the future of the girl-child.”
Sheik Abou told The Nation that progressive Islamic countries all over the world are encouraging their girl-children to acquire education at a faster rate, wondering why Nigeria wishes to be left behind.
He said though Holy Prophet Muhammed married an under aged girl, yet there is nowhere in the Holy Quran where he recommended it as a standard practice for Muslims.
“There were some things Prophet Muhammed (SAW) did which were exclusive to him like his marriage to an under aged girl or certain things he ate. But there was nowhere he told his followers that they must do same. Besides, the Holy Prophet tells us in the Holy Quran that we should seek knowledge and that even extends to the girl- child. If you educate a woman, you educate a nation.
“Many of us had our early education through our mothers many of who were educated. But if they had not acquired sound education, how could they have brought us up in sound mind? So early marriage is like disturbing young females from the talent God has endowed in them,” he said.
With marriages come sexual relations, pregnancy and child birth, all of which some doctors, teachers, parents and activists told The Nation should not be the concern of under-aged children who should be in school.
Dr Fausat Sanni, a Medical Officer of Health, attached to Agege Local Government Area of Lagos State, said pregnancies as a result of child marriages not only results in medical complications, but also affect schooling.
“Of course it is retrogressive. The child may not have opportunity of fulfilling her potential. A child that is still battling with pregnancy, maybe she has early morning sickness or vomiting and she cannot sustain herself, cannot even think of going to the hospital or clinic; she cannot cope with school. At that age, she is supposed to be under the care of another person,” she said.
Noting that pregnancy is not for children, a mother of two, Mrs. Ijeoma Udodi, who resides in Aba, Abia State, said even as a married student in the polytechnic, she lost her first pregnancy because of stress.
“I lost my first pregnancy when I got married due to a medical complication. That was in my HND final. I missed antenatal because they were clashing with my lectures. A case was the day I dressed up for my antenatal, I was almost at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) when my classmates called me that a lecturer came into our class to organise a make-up quiz. Because I missed the initial quiz, I had to charter ‘keke’ from ABSUTH gate to get to school to write the test.
“If an adult can have difficulties combining studies with marriage, the case of a younger girl at the age of 10 to 13 would be worse than what I passed through,” she said.
Another parent, Mr Mike Onoh, who resides in Calabar, the Cross River State Capital, argued that if children have to wait until 18 to vote, then girls can wait until then to get married.
“In this country the age for voting in elections is pegged at 18 because to a reasonable degree, it is universally accepted that one has achieved a considerable level of adulthood and maturity to make far-reaching decisions and take care of oneself. And of course this is one way to taking us back to the dark ages of female oppression. How can the girl be educated to contribute meaningfully when, at the time she is supposed to be in school, she is rather taking care of the home of a man old enough to be her grand or even great grandfather as a wife?” he said.
Speaking against early marriage, Dr Theo Onyuku, a psychiatrist in Calabar said such practice hinders efforts to get children educated.
“It is all part of the orchestration against girl-child education in this country, especially in the North. It has really affected our UNICEF report on education. In the North a young girl can marry an old man because he has money or cattle. Everybody should rise up against it. It traumatises the child, exposes her to various diseases and even prostitution. Before you know, they are divorced and the girl would not have any skill or education to fall back on, and you see them on the streets,” she said.
Dr Onyuku alleged that the act is perpetrated to keep the poor ignorant of the gains of education.
She said: “The elite, especially in the North discourage the poor from going to school. They discourage people from poor background and manipulate them for their selfish end that there is no need for education as we see in Boko Haram that education is evil. All these are manipulations against the common man, so they will be used as instruments for bargaining power and violence. The people in the National Assembly make laws that are self-serving. There should be a law that children irrespective of where they are should go to school. Anyone who does such should be arrested.”
Commissioner for Education, Cross River State, Prof Offiong Offiong said child marriage has negative effect on the country’s ability to meet the Millennium Development Education For All Goals.
“This is affecting the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) when you talk about gender discrimination in education, especially the girl. The girl has the highest drop out rate as opposed to the boy-child. One of the factors which is cultural is early marriage and this is affecting the meeting of the MDGs and also promoting the out-of school phenomenon in Nigeria. It would also affect the empowerment and eradication of poverty which affects the womenfolk more,” he said.
Dr Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, Executive Director, Project Alert on Violence Against Women and a Consultant to Justice for All Programme, said Nigeria should focus on progressive policies and not those that would take her back to the doldrums.
“What our children need now is ‘a pen not a penis’; they do not need to be introduced to sex at this age. So that resolution is taking us back; it is going to be giving a license to the paedophiles because somebody can sexually abuse a child and say okay I want to marry her,” she said.
Other respondents however claim that early marriage does not mean an end to the education of the girl-child.
Prof Abdallah Garba of the Bayero University Kano (BUK) said the issue seems to have been politicised. Though saying he would not want to dabble into the issue, he said the interruption of education of anybody, no matter the gender, tantamounts to the destruction of the future of such persons.
Dr Hussaini Turkur of the Nasarawa State University, Keffi said the issue of underage is a relative term.
“So many communities and ethnic groups in Nigeria have their definition of who is an under-age is and the age of marriage,” he said.
He added: “The two prominent religions in the country have their own definition of marriage age; therefore in this circumstance it is difficult to say who is an under-age for Nigeria to define the age-marriage for anybody; therefore if it is part of our life and culture, the practice would remain.”
Regarding continuing education after marriage, Turkur said it depends on the individual’s interest.
“It depends on the people, whether they are interested in education or not; because anybody can marry at any age and the family is interested in the pursuit her education, they will allow such girl or woman to pursue her education to any level and as such the provision of such in the constitution does not curtail the practice to pursue their education.”
