Save the Children International, a civil society organisation, has recently released a report titled “State of the Nigerian Girl Report – An Incisive Diagnosis of Child Marriage”.
It found that 44 per cent of girls in Nigeria are married off before reaching their eighteenth birthday, which is one of the highest rates of child marriages in the world.
The report also noted that 78 per cent of girls in the northern region of Nigeria marry before the age of 18. In the North-West and North-East regions of the country, it was reported that 48 per cent of girls were married by age 15, and 78 per cent were married by age 18.
“In Borno State, 89.13 per cent of women aged between 15 and 49 were first married before age 15. 59 per cent of them had no education whatsoever; 42 per cent had some level of primary school education and 100 per cent had no secondary school education,” the report reads.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, emphasised that child marriage in Nigeria remains illegal.
“Nigerian government is trying hard to stamp out early marriage with the enactment of the Child Rights Act 2003,” said the minister.
“Giving out children for marriage is pathetic. I wish to make it clear that child marriage is illegal in Nigeria. The value of educated child is to serve the people, and it is required in all countries for national development.”
