Sadly four out of every 10 girls in Nigeria are married before the age of 18 years. This was revealed at the high-level National Dialogue on Ending Child Marriage hosted by the Federal Government with support from the UNFPA and UNICEF recently.

Child marriage remains a critical issue affecting the development and well-being of adolescent girls globally, with Nigeria ranking third in the prevalence of child brides.

Child marriage

Child marriage refers to any formal marriage or informal union between a child under the age of 18 and an adult or another child. Despite a steady decline in this harmful practice over the past decade, child marriage remains widespread, with approximately one in five girls married in childhood across the globe.

What this means is that child marriage is a global challenge. Over the years, numerous problems have been recorded to arise from child marriage. In one of the cases involving a 15-year old girl who was forcefully married off to a 24-year old male, the relationship lasted for eight months only, but ended abruptly after the unfortunate death of the male husband who died after eating dinner poisoned by his teenage spouse.

The child bride, who became very bitter over the forced marriage, had complained bitterly to her parents that her husband had persistently raped her, but her complaints were ignored by her parents who advised her to embrace her husband.

Sadly, going by her secret plan to end the marriage, the child bride laced her husband’s dinner with a poisonous liquid. Although efforts were made to revive the husband after collapsing after eating the poisoned meal by rushing him to a nearby health facility in Zaria, Kaduna State where the couple resided, the 24-year old male spouse was pronounced as ‘broughtin-dead’ on arrival at the hospital.

The above example and many others are some of bitter experiences arising from child marriage in Nigeria and elsewhere.

Decline

Despite a steady decline in the harmful practice of child marriage over the past decade, child marriage remains widespread, with approximately one in five girls married in childhood across the globe.

Child marriage prevalence remains high in Nigeria, with 44 per cent of girls married before the age of 18, totalling over 24 million child brides and ranking third globally.

Although recent data suggests a decline in national prevalence from 44 per cent to 30 per cent, progress has been slow and uneven, particularly affecting the poorest households, rural areas, and girls with little or no education.

Today, multiple crises – including conflict, climate shocks and the ongoing fallout from COVID-19 – are threatening to reverse progress towards eliminating this human rights violation.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has called for global action to end child marriage by 2030. According to an international non-governmental organisation (NGO), Save the Children International (SCI), early marriage has devastating consequences for a girl’s life.

Effectively, child marriage ends her childhood; girls are forced into adulthood before they are physically and mentally ready; and child brides are frequently deprived of their rights to health, education, safety and participation.

Child marriage robs girls of their childhood and threatens their wellbeing. Girls who marry before 18 are more likely to experience domestic violence and less likely to remain in school.

They have worse economic and health outcomes than their unmarried peers, which are eventually passed down to their own children, straining a country’s capacity to provide quality health and education services.

Mental health

On its part, UNICEF stated that child brides often become pregnant during adolescence, when the risk of complications during pregnancy and childbirth increases. The practice can also isolate girls from family

Child marriage remains widespread

and friends, taking a heavy toll on their mental health. Recognising the urgent need to address this challenge, stakeholders from various sectors convened at the Child Marriage Stakeholders’ Consultations in Abuja recently, to deliberate on sustainable strategies towards ending child marriage in Nigeria.

At the end of the event, the stakeholders committed to ending child marriage in Nigeria by 2030 through collective action, deepened collaboration, and the deployment of additional policies and resources at the federal, state, and community levels.

“Ensuring that girls can raise their rights, pursue their education, and have the skills and opportunity to join the workforce is essential for their well-being, and a critical foundation for the health and prosperity of families, communities, and nations.

These rights include choosing when and whom to marry, when or whether to have children, and being free of violence, abuse, and exploitation,” said Dr. Gifty Addico, UNFPA Resident Representative.

“In addressing the challenge of child marriage in Nigeria, we stand with our partners and commit to a strategic and united effort to eradicate this practice by 2030.

We reaffirm our pledge to elevate the status and wellbeing of girls, ensuring their rights to education, health, and economic opportunities are preserved. “Child marriage not only impacts their well-being but can also cause grave emotional and bodily harm.

It is a practice that must be stopped,” said Ms. Cristian Munduate, UNICEF Representative. According to UNICEF, addressing child marriage requires recognition of the factors that enable it.

While the roots of the practice vary across countries and cultures, poverty, lack of educational opportunities and limited access to health care perpetuate it. Some families marry off their daughters to reduce their economic burden or earn income.

Others may do so because they believe it will secure their daughters’ futures or protect them. Norms and stereotypes around gender roles, as well as the socioeconomic risk of pregnancy outside of marriage, also uphold the practice.

Global programme

Part of efforts to end the practice include the 2016, UNICEF collaboration with UNFPA in launching the Global Programme to End Child Marriage. Empowering young girls at risk of marriage or already in union, the programme has reached more than 21 million adolescent girls with life-skills training, comprehensive sexuality education and school attendance support since 2016.

Over 353 million people, including key community influencers as well as men and boys specifically, have also engaged in dialogue and communication campaigns to support adolescent girls, or other efforts to end child marriage.

Similarly, the recent national dialogue on ending child marriage in Nigeria represents a significant stride towards eradicating the practice in the country, by fostering collaboration among diverse stakeholders to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) 5.3, which targets the elimination of child marriage by 2030.

It sets the stage for the forthcoming review and development of a new National Strategy and a cost-effective action plan on Ending Child Marriage in Nigeria by 2030 and reinforces previous interventions aimed at ending child marriage and giving girls a brighter future.

National dialogue

After the National Dialogue, UNFPA and UNICEF successfully brought together key stakeholders, resulting in several positive outcomes, such as the formation of a cohesive front and an approach against child marriage, leading to a collaborative effort to shape a brighter future for Nigerian girls; the support was garnered for the National Strategy and cost-effective action plan, laying the foundation for meaningful progress in ending child marriage in Nigeria by 2030; and community-driven solutions and strategies emerged, resulting in increased support for ending child marriage.

This led to a cultural shift, challenging traditional norms and beliefs that perpetuate child marriage and creating a supportive environment for girls.

Also, there were commitments for resource mobilisation increased from both national and international donors to implement the interventions outlined in the action plan.