Women's rights activists on Wednesday urged Nigeria to accelerate efforts to end child marriage after it joined an African Union (AU) campaign to eliminate the practice.

Nigeria launched this week a nationwide drive to end child marriage by pushing for policies that protect girls' rights and help the justice system to punish perpetrators, becoming the 16th country to join the AU's campaign.
The government made child marriage illegal in 2003, but only two-thirds of the country's 36 states have implemented the law.

At least four in 10 girls in Nigeria are married off before they turn 18, while almost a fifth are wed before they reach 15, according to the United Nations children's agency (UNICEF).

Early marriage deprives girls of an education, increases the likelihood of sexual violence and HIV, and puts them at risk of serious injury or death during childbirth, experts say.

"These (childbirth) complications are a leading cause of death among adolescents girls in countries like Nigeria ... this is unnecessary and unacceptable," said Mohamed Fall, UNICEF's representative in Nigeria.

Rates of child marriage vary widely across Nigeria, with figures as high as 76 percent in the northwest, and as low as 10 percent in the southeast, said campaign group Girls not Brides.

Women's rights group Donor Direct Action said the campaign to end child marriage was another positive step after a law banning female genital mutilation (FGM) was passed last year.

The prevalence of child marriage in Nigeria has dropped by nine percent since 2003, according to data from UNICEF.

"However, its decline needs to be dramatically accelerated, particularly in the north of Nigeria," Anber Raz of Donor Direct Action told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by email from London.

"A lot of social and cultural change needs to happen, which may fall on the hands of local groups, who are under-resourced."

Nigerian organisation Women's Rights Advancement And Protection Alternative said the state also needed to address discrimination in access to education to prevent child marriage.

More than five million girls are out of school in Nigeria due to gender discrimination, said campaign group Girl Rising.

Source:
http://www.ajayiwrites.com/2016/11/nigeria-joins-african-union-campaign-to.html

I wish the campaign can start from home not AU


lalasticlala, mynd44

Nigeria ke, you mean NorthWest Nigeria.

Good!

OPCNAIRALAND:
Nigeria ke, you mean NorthWest Nigeria.

Hmmm... Same as my thoughts too

Point of correction oooh
Not Nigeria
Make Buhari pass law to forbid his brothers from marry under child cos it's not underage but under child
6yrs 7yrs pikin

Except sharia law is repealed from the constitution if not it's just a waiste of time

With Buhari as president, its dead on arrival (DOA).


Thanks

When Emir of Katsina is kidnapping girls from school to marry him. Then the president is silent, police dumb and public apathetic. Is this for real initiative real?

Charity begins at home!!

We have this issue presently in our country, instead make dem deal with am, dem dey form African union,
Im not saying it's not cool o, but im pretty sure most of us want them to start this campaign from home, bfor going beyond borders

Remove the spec frm ur eyes 1st naija .

I hope those paedophilia-supporting Emirs and clerics in the north will support it.

I hope adults raping toddlers and young children in the south will also come to their godly senses.

My brothers somewhere in the country won't be happy with this idea.

Dum heads with plenty characters without meaning.
The statement of the youth of this country is discouraging. No wonder companies are not hiring them much because only few have something to offer.

Jesus...see comment in this 21st century

This generation is in trouble

I Comment ma reserve till notice further...

Nonsense! As if they can keep up with the demands.
It's only self deceivers that will believe that NG can pull this off.

With mouth? They should also join the campaign to end giving birth to battalion.

Some people will fight against this

I honestly don't see what they see in destroying little girls' lives. Well maybe its because their role model did the same thing

abeg make person hear word,the bride Sanusi Lamido married recently how old is she? Buhari daughter set to wed soon,how many years she take commot for child? Those who are in positions to make any real difference in the child bride problem are the major perpetrators themselves so this is an issue dead on arrival in Nigeria. Besides child marriage is majorly a Nothern/Muslim problem so you're tackling both a cultural and religious problem.

Oh oh, The northerners are not going to like this

Nigeria's Headquarters should be in the north..

Check my signature guyz...ultimate cycler is real![b]Check my signature guyz...ultimate cycler is real![/b]Check my signature guyz...ultimate cycler is real!

i hope our brothers down north won't get angry lols @yarima fulanimafia aisha508 atiku2019 the child abusers and molesters.

What we need in Nigeria is a legislation against child marriage, not campaign

Lol

Ostrich and head in the sand.

We all know those who marry children. Take your case to them. Including thier so called emirs.

OPCNAIRALAND:
Nigeria ke, you mean NorthWest Nigeria.

it is prevalent in most parts of the North.

KUDOS TO OSINBANJO

The headquarter of this campaign should be inside Emire Sanusi's house. then other head branches should follow in other Emirate houses. Only then will this campaign be successful.

An evil and adulterous generation is trying to stop child marriage...they don't talk about south and east that their children get pregnant before 18 as a result of adultery and nobody to care for them. Which one is worst, north that marry them legally or east and south that commit adultery with them and then dump them when they get pregnant which make some them commit suicide or die during abortion

they should carry this campaign to those mad men in the north who brainwash kids, forcefully convert them into islam and take them as wives.