EXPOSED!!!

�My Father killed a man

He was arrested

To avoid prison

He gave our 3 year old sister out in marriage to the victim�s family.�

When I recently heard the word Child marriage, I asked myself, does that still exists?  Not until I browsed through the net and saw mind blowing facts about the reality of child marriages. Gavin Weston was speaking to me (and probably to you) when he said �most people simply don�t know the extent of the problem. An estimated 25,000 child marriages occur every day. That�s mind-boggling, so much so that to many people it becomes abstract, unreal.�

Teenz Global Foundation held a TGF twitter chat on Sunday, August 28, 2016 by 4pm on Child Marriage with the harsh tag #childmarriage to discuss the menace and a way out on Child Marriage. She brought some speakers on the forum- Dr. Gideon Okorie @gsorochy, Olusola Folayan @itgsola and Uzor Darlington @visionike.

The chat started with what Child Marriage is? Dr. Gideon defined it as a legal or customary union involving a boy or girl below the age of 18, any marriage before age 18. He went further to say as minors, they are rarely able to give their �free and full consent� to marriage. Sola Folayan added that it could also be a forced marriage since the consent of the child is not sought, she opined that it is a crime and injustice committed against children. Uzor Darlington said Child Marriage affects both boys and girls although girls are disproportionately the most affected. Dr. Gideon said it has to be stopped because it breeds vicious cycle of poverty by impacting adversely on education, health and development of minors and that girls should be equipped with skills connections and capacities that child marriage impedes.

When asked if the bad economic is the cause of child marriage, Sola Folayan disagreed, saying that even the rich engage in it and Dr. Gideon added that some customs are in support of it. Dr. Gideon said Child Marriage has devastating impact on the education, health and personal development of the individual and that social and economic impact will always not allow victims actualize their full potentials. When asked what the root causes of Child Marriage are, Victory Nmeri replied that it is poverty and ignorance and Uzor Darlington added culture to it while Sola Folayan included gender inequality and unenforced laws.

Uzor Darlington mentioned that Nigeria passed the Child Right Act in 2003, which increased the minimum age for girl marriage to 18, Dr. Gideon added that although the Child Right Act has been implemented for over a decade, only 24 out of the 36 states of the federation have gone ahead to domesticate the it as a state law, and of the remaining 12 states, the Child Right Act has met stiff resistance in some northern states, where Islam has been accepted as a way of life and sharia law, introduced.

In eradicating Child Marriage, Uzor Darlington said Nigeria should imitate Malawi, Tanzania, in taking action to end child marriage. Dr. Gideon said government should demonstrate commitment to end child marriage by developing laws and policies and putting institutions in place to enforce it. Sola Folayan said NGOs have to collaborate more and synergize all their efforts to increase impact on reducing incidence of child marriage in Nigeria. She also said that communication is very important in stopping child marriage that the media should frame the issue rightly so people understand the problem. Victory Nmeri said the higher the level of education the lower the number of victims, Sola Folayan agreed to that by explaining that keeping the girls in schools will increase their age.

 Let's walk the talk and put an end to this menace. They are only children.

Olatubosun Chinwe-Taiwo