Child Rights Act 2003
IThe Nigerian Child Rights Act of 2003 (CRA) sets the national legal age of marriage to 18 years but twelve years after its enactment, 13 out of the 36 states in the country namely: Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Enugu, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamafara have refused to adopt the Act. This is ironic because these states, with the exception of Enugu, represent Northern Nigeria which has some of the highest rates of child marriage in the world.
The state assemblies who bear responsibility for pushing the adoption and implementation of the CRA in these 13 States prefer to tread softly rather than step on the toes of some of their Honorable members who have child brides at home and are guilty of this human rights violation they were elected to protect. Child Rights activist have also taken this approach of treading softly so as not to offend “culture” and “religion”.
Those on the grassroots level choose to shift their advocacy efforts to promoting education of the girl child instead of mentioning those words: “End Child Marriage.”
It is indeed a very sensitive subject but as we enter the “post 2015” era, it is important to move beyond the reports, statistics and the data collection (so many impressive reports have been written on this subject) and take proactive and sustainable steps to end child marriage in Nigeria; steps that do not involve the White Elephant project of implementing the Child Rights Act in these 13 states but steps that will focus on accelerating govern- ment efforts in making secondary education compulsory in these states for both boys and girls, with an emphasis on the girl child.
EFA - Global Monitoring Report
I recently attended the UK Launch of the Education For All - Global Monitoring Report (GMR 2015) published by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) which outlined the achievements and challenges of the Education For All Goals launched at the World Education Forum in the year 2000. Goal 2 of the Education For All goals was:
“ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls,….. have access to and complete compulsory primary education of good quality”
The GMR 2015 concluded that Nigeria failed to achieve universal primary education, not marginally, but by almost 50%. This is of course a very disheartening result after 15 years and even more daunting when we note that, the “post 2015” sustainable development goals has added compulsory secondary education to the 2030 attainment list.
Of particular note is that Nigeria failed to achieve universal primary education because of a failure to get girls who represent almost half of the school age population, into school. (The organisation Girls Not Brides estimates that 43 per cent of girls in Nigeria are married off before their 18th birthday).
Though many organisations have worked well with young girls by way of mentorship and vocational training, and the economic benefits of the girl dividend have been disseminated by organisations such as CSR Children, we need to get every child in school and ensure that they complete secondary education even if this means offering economic support and incentives for the girls and their families. This is where government comes in.