INCIDENCE AND EFFECT OF EARLY GIRL CHILD MARRIAGE IN
NIGERIA
OBA ADEBOYE SOLOMON -
SCHOOL:
LAGOS STATE SCHOOL OF NURSING, IGANDO
DATE: JANUARY 2014.
INTRODUCTION
Today child marriage are fairly wide spread in developing areas of the world, especially in Africa,
South Asia, South east and East Asia, West Asia, Latin America and Oceania. The incidence rates of child marriage have been falling in most parts of the world. The five nations with the highest observed rates of child marriages in the world, below THE AGE OF 18, ARE Niger, Chad, Mali,
Bangladesh and Guniea. The top three nations with greater than 20% rates of child marriages below the age of 15 are Niger, Bangladesh and Guniea. As many as 1 in 3 girls in developing areas of the world are married before reaching the age of 18 and in estimated 1 in 9 girls in developing countries are married by age of 15. One of the most common causes of death for girls 15 to 19 in developing countries was pregnancy and child birth comparing these statistical facts to rate of early marriage in Nigeria, shows that the practice is not as rampant there, as other parts of Africa and the world that practice it in Nigeria, it still takes place in some pats of the country especially the Northern parts and this according to survey is still one of the major factors feeling poverty in Nigeria.
In early child marriage, a girl child is being pressured or sometimes forced into marriage. Child marriages are viewed within a context of force and coercion, involving pressure and emotional blackmail, and children that lack the choice or capacity to give their full consent Osward L. (2009), it is relevant to study the major causes and effects of early marriage in order to enlighten people about the dangers in contracting such marriages where girls involved are not matured to carry out family responsibilities but were still pushed into marriage due to one reason or the other.
This seminar paper aims at
References: - A CHOICE BY RIGHT: the Report of the working group on forced marriage (2000), UK - Black Maggie (2000) growing up alone: The hidden cost of poverty, UNICEF UK. - CRIN, Rabat (2011) Morrocco: underage marriages increase. - Ini eicott (2013) Nigeria : Senate denies child marriage wrong doings, says law may be - UNICEF (2000), Personal communication, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic - UNICEF (2011_ child marriage