YERIMA AND ITS CHILD’S MARRIAGE THEORY By: ERUKILEDE JULIUS Esq.
I have carefully listened to different arguments, concerns and also consider the pros and the cons of the current debate on the alleged “child marriage” clause as deliberated by the Senate on the 19th July, 2013 during the constitutional amendment clause by clause reviews. However, I must first admit that the amendment process is neither a vote for child marriage nor a vote against it. The process generated this protracted argument because of the way Senator Yerima, a member of the constitutional review committee addressed an issue that could have been resolved during one of their several sittings before it came to the committee of whole.
I must quickly point out that if this observation was made by another senator rather than this perceived randy senator; it might not have generated the kind of controversy and response that we have witnessed. The controversy is also partly due to the perception that gender advocates, right thinking members of the society (women and men) have regarding senator Yerima and his 13 year old Egyptian marriage saga some months ago.
However, I believe that the fear of average Nigerians that reason rationally should be taken seriously. I therefore challenge the National Assembly to as a matter of urgency remove Section 18 (Educational objective) of the constitution from Chapter 2, and move it to chapter 4 of the constitution making it justiceable as against the non-justiceable status it presently enjoys.
By virtue of the current Government policy, education is not only free but compulsory up to JSS 3 level. What the national Assembly needs to do is to make it a criminal offence for any parent that fails to educate his wards. I suggest that Normadic/Quranic education should be integrated to accommodate the yearning of the northern Muslims who want their children to be properly brought up in the Islamic way.
This to me will put to bed early marriages that are rampant in some part of the North. To my chagrin surprise, my discussion with an Islamic scholar of Yoruba extraction yesterday on this nagging issue made me speechless. He admitted that he wouldn’t give his children out at 18 not even 12 or 13 but does not see anything wrong with Yerima’s position because he only follows an established Islamic doctrine. He further informed me that the instruction in the Quaran and Hadith is that once a female child has reached puberty; she must not menstruate consecutively in her parent’s house. He also reliably informed me that in some parts of Katsina State that he is familiar with, the inhabitants have even abused the practice by giving out there children for marriage as early as the age of six years.
According to the National Demographic Health Survey report of 2012, Nigeria produces 12,000 new infected Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) on a yearly basis. The 2013 statistics in deadly, according to the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina, estimated 400,000 to 800,000 cases with 20,000 new cases added each year, the highest in the world. There are several questions we need to ask ourselves: What are the medical and psychological effects of child’s marriage on these victims? Who cares about the mere slave status these older men turned them to? Are there checks and balances to guarantee their safety?
In as much as I have read the purported argument/defense of Senator Yerima on this issue and some other people in his boat, I consider these arguments as baseless, inconsequential, reckless and of no effect. Will early marriage guarantee child’s promiscuity? – Maybe and Maybe not! However, does child’s marriage constitute medical and physical challenges to these children? Your answer is as good as mine. Why must we be leading in terrible things and be a back benchers in fruitful endeavours? We need to ask ourselves this pertinent question.
If our present legislators fail to use this constitution amendment process to make a section that will proscribe child’s marriage, history will not forgive them. I am aware that 90% of core Islamic countries have proscribed child’s marriages through legislative enactment; this senate has a golden opportunity not only to make history but to put Nigeria on an accelerated growth. I should also say it clear that Nigeria is not an Islamic, Christianity or a Pagan state. It is a heterogeneous country. SECTION 10 of the 1999 CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AS AMMENDED clearly states that “the Government of the Federation or of a state shall not adopt any religion as State Religion”.
It is only on this basis that Senator Yerima and his co-travellers would be put into the dustbin of history thereby enabling us to march as a united country into greatness. Long live Nigeria.

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