The Child Bride Saga

I wasn't going to talk about it because so much had been said already but I realised  I owe my myself, my sisters and every girl child this. I want to lend my voice to this cause.You see, I have four sisters - two of which are in their teens and I consider them still children! Imagine my alarm when I read that every year, an estimated 14 million girls across the world become child brides and in Africa, 42% of girls were married before turning 18. Scary stuff!!

Last week, the Nigerian Senate voted on a constitutional amendment that would have helped protect girls from underage marriage but the clause setting the age of consent at 18 failed.There's been so much outrage among Nigerians - celebrities, groups and NGOs have been campaigning by showing their disdain on twitter, Facebook, blogs and other social media asking the senate to revisit the issue. I'm impressed and proud of the intensity and passion with which they spoke. So I found it funny that one of the lawmakers who voted for this clause, came out to say  he never meant to vote for child marriages. He said he voted in favor of whether a married woman is deemed to be of full age to renounce her Nigerian citizenship and not whether a woman can marry before attaining the age of 18 years. Really? I wonder if he has daughters!


It's sad that this has been going for a long time and female children  have been robbed of their childhood. They are often pulled out of schools and denied education. They've been made to bear children before they are physically or emotionally ready. And most likely, they experience sexual, verbal and domestic abuse. I remember sometime ago, I saw a documentary on girls who had premature childbirth and a s result suffered

from a condition called VVF which causes chronic incontinence. These girls are often abandoned and ostracized by society.

Let us not just fight for the National Assembly to amend section 29 of the constitution. Let us rather fight for our law makers to include provisions in the constitution which clearly outlaws under age marriages. It's already obvious the government  has a big role to play in the matter but come to think of it, some parents also force their children to get married too! Who is then to protect these children? I give kudos to those who through social media have brought the debate to the consciousness of a lot of people. I just hope it will not end there. Like me, you can support this cause by signing the #childnotbride petition. All girls deserve to have the ordinary life experiences like other kids.