Gist: Under-age marriage: Can Nigeria break the back of the beast?

According to the Child’s Right Act of 2003, “No person under the age of 18 years is capable of contracting a valid marriage, and accord­ingly, a marriage so contract­ed is null and void and of no effect whatsoever.” Even with this law in place, UNICEF’s re­ports shows that 43% of girls in Nigeria are married off be­fore they celebrate their 18th birthday and 17% are married before they are 15 years. This situation is alarming and dis­turbing.

It was in 1989, that coun­tries of the world under the umbrella of United Nations adopted the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child; or the UNCRC as it is commonly referred. The treaty details all that is needed for a child’s welfare and wellbe­ing covering economic, politi­cal and social – cultural rights proper to a child in any part of the world.

To domesticate the UN­CRC in Nigeria, the then president Olusegun Obasan­jo, in September 2003, signed the Child Rights Act into law following the adoption of the convention by the National Assembly in July of the same year. Since then, available sta­tistics indicate that about 24 states of the Federation have ratified the Child Right Act in their state laws to make it effec­tive in their respective states. One aspect of the 2003 Child Right Act is under-age mar­riage also called Child mar­riage. The law prohibits Child marriage and prescribes pun­ishment for those found guilty.

Today in Nigeria we have cases where the girl child is kidnapped or abducted, abuse sexually and initiated into an­other religion forcefully all in the name of marriage. This ac­tion is criminal and condemn­able in accordance with the 2003 Child Right Act.

In the past weeks the so­cial and mainstream media were awash with the stories of EFCC versus Judges, Pres­ident Buhari versus Aisha Bu­hari and Boko Haram against Federal Government in the case of 21 released Chibok girls. While this was dominat­ing media space, not so much was said of the case in Katsina State involving a 14 year girl and one Jamilu Lawal. Reports have it that the teenage girl was forced into marriage and was converted from Christianity to Islam. Following the incident a petition in favour of the ab­ducted girl was sent through a lawyer to the Kastina State Po­lice Command. What indeed shocked many of us is the re­sponse the case received from the Katsina Police Command on Monday.

A statement credited to the Commissioner of Police in Katsina state Usman Ab­dullahi, reads: “It was gath­ered that the girl was nei­ther ‘kidnapped, abducted nor procured,’ as she was the one who willingly left her par­ents’ house to the house of the Chairman of Hisbah, who took her to their village head and later to the district head of Kankara, where she explained that she had converted to Is­lam. This was contained in the statement she gave willingly to the police. It was on this note that the suspect (Lawal) was released since the case of al­leged kidnapping and abduc­tion could not be established against him.”

Looking at this statement, it throws up numerous issues. Essentially is the regrettable level of implementation of this Act. Where is the place of this law in this instance of the Katsina case? It is needless to ask if Katsina state is among the states that have ratified the Child Right Act. I would think that the Nigerian Police Force has the right to enforce fed­eral government laws in any part of the country not until such a law is in the laws of that state in question. It is impor­tant to ask the police how the consent of a person under 18 years who is considered as mi­nor validates a marriage.

For me, this is a clear case of abduction. If anyone is found guilty of this action he is a criminal and should be treat­ed as such. The offender needs not to escape the full wrath of the law. I even think that this grave offence against the dig­nity of the girl child should at­tract stiffer punishment. For instance in Gambia, “Anyone who marries a girl under 18 years will spend 20 years in jail. The girls’ parents would spend 21 years in jail and an­yone who knows about it and fails to report the matter to the authorities would spend 10 years in jail,”

The situation in Gambia even differs; parents that con­sent to under-age marriage are punished under the Gambian law. Unlike the case in Katsina where a child was taking away without the knowledge of the parents and a high profile law enforcement officer said it is not abduction. Someone needs to explain this statement better to Nigerians. The Katsi­na case could be one among a number of other similar issues around the country. This rais­es concerns as to how soon Ni­geria will overcome the prob­lem of under-age marriage.

Indeed Nigeria can break the back of the beast if there is a concerted campaign against this menace. Everyone is a partner: Advocacy groups for the protection of the Child, re­ligious and community lead­ers, government at all levels, individuals, the media and im­portantly the national assem­bly. Let me remind the nation­al assembly that it works does not end with the enactment of laws. It also has a constitu­tional responsibility to over­sight. The duty to oversight when properly done will en­sure the full implementation of the laws by relevant bodies.

I look forward to a time that Nigerian will be rated as having 98% of girls between 16 and 18 years in higher in­stitutions of learning. That is the Nigeria of my dream!