Preventing and Eliminating Child Marriage in Africa: The Perspectives from Nigeria

Abstract

Child marriage is a global scourge and remains prevalent in many parts of Africa particularly in Nigeria’s northern region where many girls are given away in marriage without their consent. Child marriage violates the human rights of the affected girl-child and increases their risks for several negative sexual and reproductive health outcomes, including maternal morbidity and mortality. The United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) report of 2021 confirmed that although child marriage is becoming less common globally, the rate of progress is not fast enough to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of eliminating child marriage by 2030 as child marriage still affects 650 million girls worldwide. The amount of progress is uneven across regions, between countries and within countries. The least reductions have been observed in Sub- Saharan Africa where child marriage is presently most prevalent. As the most populous country in the African region, Nigeria reportedly has the highest number of child brides with an estimated 44% of the girls married before their 18th birthday. This has been rated as one of the highest globally and rates are not likely to decrease soon as girls, especially those living in northern Nigeria, are living in one of the most difficult times due to factors like armed conflict, kidnapping, COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession. Preliminary investigation confirmed that tradition and culture still play a dominant role in the operation of the practice of child marriage in Nigeria and Africa in general. This article proposed inter alia, that for effectiveness, interventions aimed at reducing and eliminating child marriage in Nigeria must give considerable attention to culturally-laden social norms that vary by ethnic groups as well as religious-related beliefs. Keywords: Child marriage, Girl-child, Child bride, Prevalence, Elimination, Prevention, Progress, Nigeria, Africa. DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/119-03 Publication date: March 31 st 2022