COVID-19 may force 2.5m girls into child marriage, says don

By : Abdulganiyu Alabi, Kaduna

Date: 10 August 2021 5:05am WAT

Milagrosa Manuel and Aristida Alvarenco Morgado.Milagrosa is 18 years old and her son Aristida is 1year old.Milagrosa lives with her inlaws. There are 12 family members living on the property. Milagrosa is closest to the other 2 daughter-in laws.Her husband returns on weekend.from his job in a surrounding town. They met through her sister as she heard that her inlaws was looking for a wife for their son. Miligrosa was vunerable as her family had passed away. She was in Grade 7 when she left school. Aristida is her second child. Her first child passed away not from the same father.Her husband cared for the child.

Studies have revealed that about 2.5 million girls are at risk of getting into early marriage in the country by year 2025 due to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19).

Prof. Obehi Okojie of the Faculty of Public Health and Community Medicine in National Post Graduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN) made this known yesterday during the college’s 2021 Faculty Day Lecture at the Kaduna State University (KASU).

Okojie, who gave the lecture themed ‘Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 on Communities and the Mitigation Efforts’, stated: “Girls are disproportionately affected and the pandemic threatens to undo decades of progress in gender equality.

“Millions of girls might not be going back to school, putting them at risk of adolescent pregnancy, child marriage and violence.”