Early Child Marriages

Stephanie Okereke creatively told the effects of early child marriages in her award-winning movie Dry. We highly recommend that you watch this very emotional and informative story. Spoiler alert; get a whole pack of tissues!

An average of 650 million girls were married off before the legal consenting age, with Nigeria leading with a whooping 22 million. 18% of these girls are about 15 and below, while 44% are 18 and below.(see reference link)

In a report titled Wedded to Poverty by Yale Global drawing statistics from UNICEF; poverty, underdevelopment, and residing in rural areas are significant causes for the increasing number of child brides in the region. (see reference link)

Legal contradictions, mainly the Child Rights Act, that fails to fully protect children wholly because it grants the rights to freedom of worship, contribute adversely to this practice. Through their Islamic Sharia laws, most tribes like the Hausa-Fulani tribe still marry off children at a young age with claims that it prevents sexual assault, pregnancies conceived out of wedlock, and family dishonor.

Child marriages expose young girls to the risks of contracting STIs, suffering from Vesicovaginal fistula (an opening that develops between the bladder and the wall of the vagina) marital rape -an act encouraged by patriarchal beliefs- and being deeply rooted into an endless cycle of abject poverty.

Most girls aged 15 die while giving birth, those in their 20’s suffer from child loss, and oftentimes most of them deal with stress and depression due to isolation which results in mental health struggles.

There is an urgent need to separate policy development from culture to eradicate this age-old practice.