Tanzania, Gambia leave Nigeria behind with landmark bans on child marriage
By Rotimi Akinola
Nigeria is an African giant, no doubt. She’s a giant at allowing men legally have sexual relations with girls too young to be their grand kids.
Under Nigeria law, a child is considered a legal adult if she’s married.
Nigeria is the self professed “Africa’s big brother”. But two of her “younger” brothers have now left her behind as regards ending child marriage.
In Gambia, where around 30% of girls are married underage, President Yahya Jammeh announced last Wednesday:
“As from today, child marriage below 18 years is illegal in the 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.
“If you want to know whether what I am saying is true or not, try it tomorrow and see.”
Around 30% of Gambian girls are married underage. That figure should decline in the aftermath of last Wednesday’s landmark ruling.
Tanzania, where the rate of child marriage is around 37%, a recent high court ruling established that a law passed in 1971 setting the legal age of marriage for girls at 15 is unconstitutional.
The new legal age in the country is now 18.
According to GirlsNotBrides.Org, 43% of Nigerian girls are married off before their 18th birthday. At least 17% are married before they turn 15.
The figure is as high as 76% in the North West region of the country, and as low as 10% in the South East, the organisation says.
Wikipedia: Pedophilia or paedophilia is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children.
Although illiteracy and poverty play a major role in this huge problem, Nigeria’s own laws make things worse.
“The Nigerian Constitution does not establish a minimum age of marriage,” GirlsNotBrides.Org says.
“The Child Rights Act, which was passed in 2003, sets the age of marriage at 18 years-old. However, only 23 of Nigeria’s 36 states have taken concrete steps to implement the minimum age of marriage.”
A report on the organisation’s website reads: “If a (Nigerian) girl is 15 years old and she is not married, people will start complaining”.
It should be noted that data shows a 9% decline in the prevalence of child marriage since 2003. But as far as ending child marriage is concerned, Africa’s “giant” shamelessly lags behind.
The Nigerian government needs to complement the efforts of child right activists, NGOs and other groups with common sense legislation..
