Child Marriage And The Girl Child
Child marriage has been a topic of interest in Nigeria especially since Senator Yerima married a 13year old. It has been debated on national levels and locally and is most practiced amongst the Northerners in Nigeria.
Now, this is not to raise (un)settled dust but has anyone realized that Child Marriage is tilted to one side? It shouldn’t be termed Child Marriage but “Girl Child Marriage”
This is because I don’t see any 13-year old boy married off to a woman old enough to his mother,I don’t even see 13year old boys getting married to a girl their age. But a 13-17year old girl married a man 30-40 years older and is made to have babies. If you ask me that’s “a baby babying a baby.
Their lives are paused, they get older than their age, they suffer diseases, drop out of school to marry a man as old as their fathers(for those who were in school)
The bride of her “father” … “Mother” and child ( Courtesy: AP Images)
These acts are not based on reducing the rate of fornication or unwanted pregnancies as some claim but this wicked act is fuelled by gender discrimination/inequality, poverty, illiteracy, insecurity and a failed Justice system and would as well breed bad blood such as; hunger, diseases, depression, illiteracy and death-generation to generation.
Education is the greatest weapon to fight against this evil, empower the girl child, she’s a child and not a bride.
