The
practice of child marriage in Nigeria is prevalent. This can partly be
explained because Nigeria is very much divided on religious grounds. The South
is mainly Christian and the North is principally Islam. So, even though the
country as a whole is 'bound' by Federal Law and the Nigerian Constitution --
and I use the word bound very loosely -- some Northern states in Nigeria
subscribe to Sharia law, at least their own version of it. In Nigeria, the
federal law prohibits the marriage of persons that are below eighteen. However,
the states in Nigeria that implements Sharia law do not prohibit child
marriage. This tends to create a clash of laws and principles, but not to the
point where the federal government feels the need to intervene. Child marriage
is simply a traditional convention that has been allowed to subsist within
Nigeria.
Wasila
Umaru is a 14-year-old girl that was forced to marry a 35-year-old man in
Nigeria. She made the news this week for poisoning and killing her 'husband'
and two of his friends. I am not in any way excusing what she did. I am not of
the belief that two 'wrongs' make a right. However, I think that the issue is a
little bit more complicated than a 14-year-old girl killing her 'husband.' In
order to understand the situation that Wasila Umaru found herself in, it is
important to explore the practice of child marriage in Nigeria, a bit more
deeply.
Autonomy
and Consent are two key elements, amongst others, that are necessary when one
is entering into a marital contract with someone else. These two key elements
are lacking in a situation where a child is forced to marry an adult. On the
one hand, they are not given the choice to say no. But, on the other hand,
children are not capable of consent. In order to consent to something, you have
to be fully aware of and have the capacity to understand what you are
consenting to. Children do not have this ability. This is not to say that
children are incapable of reason. But, they are not fully capable of always
understanding the costs of their choices. This is why, when children do
something horrid, we tend to judge them as children, and we do not hold them to
the same standard as we hold adults.
If
one is to concede to the argument that autonomy and consent is key to a valid
marital contract, then it is not hard to see why Wasila's marriage was both
void and wrong. However, it is always easy to condemn the Sharia law, and
rightly so, for allowing the practice of child marriage to exist within the
context of the Nigerian society. However, I think that the issue is deeper than
that. If we look at the people most affected by child marriage, they tend to be
girls who are from poor homes. This consistent demographic, with respect to
child marriage is something that cannot be ignored.
There
is an antiquated practice of collecting 'bride price' in Nigeria. When a girl
is getting married in Nigeria, her groom is expected to pay a certain price for
her. This practice can be traced back to the belief that a girl is the property
of her family, her father to be more specific. In order to marry her, you have
to pay a price for her. The practice has become customary in Nigeria, but it
also provides a very huge motive for why child marriage as a practice has
continued to persist. It further explains why girls from poor families are the
most vulnerable to this practice. The children are married off to older men, in
order to both get the bride price that is paid on her behalf, but also because
that is one less mouth to feed for her family.
There
are other complex factors that have led to the continual and persistent
subsistence of the practice of child marriage in Nigeria. However, poverty, and
the fact that the female child is seen, almost as, dispensable property are one
of the main reasons why child marriage is predominant in Nigeria. The question
becomes, how do we target the issue of child marriage in Nigeria. This is a
very hard question, because on the one hand, it involves targeting many
people's core beliefs that there is nothing wrong with child marriage. But, on
an institutional level, education seems to be the only plausible way to target
this issue. Educated families are more likely to practice family planning, and
thus avoid the issue of having more children than they could care for. Educated
parents are more likely to want education for their children as well. However,
we as society must also work to target the issues of poverty and the way women
are viewed in our society.
We
as a society must start to realize that the practice of child marriage must
cease to persist, for the sake of the future of these girls that are married to
early. Child marriage is a cultural issue, but it is also a social justice
issue and a national health issue in Nigeria. We need to work as a society to
figure out ways to give the most vulnerable in our society a positive control
over their future. It is a national health issue in Nigeria, because these
children are subject to continual sexual abuse, and possible physical violence
by their supposed spouses. There are also numerous issues that arouse from
child-teen pregnancy, both physical and psychological.
This
is what Wasila's family subjected her too and, no matter how much we might
condemn her for killing her husband, one could easily see why Wasila, herself,
was situated in an impossible and unbearable situation. There are many Wasila's
that exist in Nigeria, and it is time that we do what we can as a country to
end child marriage and the plights, costs and consequences that accompany the
practice.
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