Girls call for criminalisation of child-marriage in Nigeria

Disturbed by the rising cases of child marriage, a group of young girls researchers, supported by ActionAid Nigeria, has called for the criminalisation of exercise in Nigeria.

The group stated that the development robs victims of their childhood and future, saying they should be allowed to finish education before being married off.

Favour Usman, a young researcher who reeled out some of their findings during the International Day of the Girl Child celebrations organised by ActionAid Nigeria at the weekend in Abuja said they carried out their findings from FCT and Jigawa and spoken to people at the community levels to understand why girls are unable to reach their full potentials.

She said they discovered that girl issues are not prioritized, saying the issues affecting a girl child range from early marriage to lack of education and menstrual health challenges.

The Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Andrew Mamedu, called for deliberate government policies to address all the issues affecting the girl child.