By Adeze Ojukwu
THE current public outrage against child marriage in Nigeria has continued to reverberate for good reasons. For too long, the girl child has sufferred horrendous sexual violations and exploitations, under the guise of religion and culture.
Without doubt, Ese Oruru’s travails allegedly in the hands of Yunusa Dahiru of Kano State and similar cases have, more than else, exposed the vulnerability of minors, particularly the females to sexual abuse.
The increasing cases of kidnapping and forceful ‘marriage’ and conversion of young christian girls allegedly in sharia compliant states, is clearly unacceptable and must be addressed urgently.
It is incontrovertible that many girls are living on the brink, as their childhood is truncated by obnoxious practices, in some sections of the country.
Recently a bill, that sought to address these gender inequalities and related issues, by the senate was shot down, as in previous attempts, by some senators over religious considerations.
Again many Nigerians vehemently condemned this move, as a major set-back to the nation and a disservice to women. Its quite sad that 21st century Nigeria still upholds medieval tenets that encourage all forms of pedophile and sexual crimes that make the country a laughing stock in the comity of nations.
Nigeria is currently inundated by terrorism, sectarian hostilities, social woes and economic crises, hence can ill-afford to court acts capable of worsening religious tension. The current administration must uphold the country’s secularity, by tackling decisively any action or law that is contrary to the nation’s constitution and international treaties on human rights.
The failure of successive governments to domesticate many of these inalienable rights particularly the benchmarks on rights of women and children is an aberration.
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) describes child marriage as ‘a human rights violation, which has been outlawed by several international agreements including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).’
The agency in its 2015 Report said: ‘Child marriage, is a toxic product of culture, gender inequality, poverty, illiteracy. Government must work with civil society groups, communties and international partners to scale-up access of girls to education, health information and services as well as life-skills training.’
It also harped on the need for developing countries ‘to enforce existing laws which stipulate 18 as the legal age for marriage and betrothal.’
Though some states have passed the 2003 Child’s Rights Act, in line with CRC, which clearly prohibits child marriage and betrothal, many have not, while others have reduced the age of a child to 15 or less to accommodate the practice of early marriage.
Apart from legislation, child rights advocates and educationists have stressed the need to tackle rural poverty and illiteracy as well as ‘religious and cultural norms anachronistic to the lives of children.’ A human rights activist Mr Ochanga Ogan who expressed worry over the plight of Nigerian children said: ‘the country currently bears outrageous and alarming records in global development demographics.’
Said he: ‘It is no longer news that the country has one of the highest child bride rates, as about 43 percent of Nigerian girls marry before age 18, with the prevalence of about 70 percent in the North-West and North-East and about 10 percent in the South-East.’
The country’s over 10.5 million out-of-school kids is not only unsettling, but a global concern. Meanwhile, the nation continues to grapple with a high burden and socio- cultural dynamics of high infant and maternal mortality.’
Obviously this dismal performance in virtually all spheres of the global development radar is a direct consequence of obnoxious traditions and practices that inadvertently circumvent the rights of its citizens, particularly the girl child.
The consensus opinion across Nigeria is that child marriage is ‘not only retrogressive and reprehensible, but inherently evil, hence the demand to scrap it through effective monitoring, law enforcement and grassroots enlightenment campaigns.
Many child brides are neither physically nor psychologically matured for marriage and motherhood. As a result, some of them are susceptible to pregnancy-related complications, as well as malnutrition, bleeding, Vesico-Vagina Fistula(VVF), Recto-Vagina Fistula(RVF) and depression, among others.
In addition early marriage undermines the development, education, health and full potentials of victims. Several international and national legal frameworks place a huge mandate and responsibility on all arms of government to end this obnoxious practice.
All stakeholders including local authorities, security agencies and civil society groups must join forces to promote child protection and safety. Children are vulnerable and should not be sacrificed on the altar of heinous socio-cultural and religious practices. Nigeria currently bears the shame of a seeming penchant for child-related sexual atrocities, hence the urgency to the end these violations, should be prioritized in the change agenda of the current administration.
Unless this is done, the national pursuit for sustainable development will continue to elude the nation and its circumscribed citizens.
.Ojukwu, a USA sponsored-Hubert Humphrey Program Alumnus and a media practitioner, writes via adezeo@ yahoo.com