International Day of the Girl Child: Nigeria must do more
Peace was at her roadside shop in Festac Gate, Lagos, where she sells cooked and peppered cowhide. She looked very sad and discouraged as I approached her. At just 20 years old, she is raising her four children alone from a failed marriage.
Lost in thought, she didn't notice me until I touched her shoulder. She apologized.
Noticing that she was always distracted, I asked her what the problem was. Her story centers around her experience as a victim of child marriage.
The young woman, as she recalls, was a bubbly child while living with her poor parents in Imo State. Then one day in 2014, when she was 13, she returned from the market with her mother and older siblings when her father handed her over to a man he called her husband, who brought to live with him in Lagos.
Peace said she knew he wasn't the right man for her. But she couldn't get rid of him until she had four children with him.
“My village has a high divorce rate because young girls are forced into marriage at a very young age and many end up leaving the men to return to their parents in the village,” she said.< /p>
“My concern now is how I am going to take care of my four children. I was thinking about how to offset their school fees just now,” she explained.
10 years laterIt has been 10 years since the world began marking the International Day of the Girl Child (IDGC), which has brought attention to issues affecting girls in Nigeria and around the world.
State governments, policy makers and the general public lent their voices to the campaign for a better life for girls. Yet investments in girls' rights remain limited and girls continue to face challenges preventing them from realizing their potential.
Imo State, where Peace is from, passed the Girl Child Act (GCA) 18 years ago on August 4, 2004. But girls under 18 are still married in the country. southeastern state of Nigeria to men they have never met in their lives.
A recent report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) predicted that Nigeria will have 29 million child brides by 2050.
The report states that many states in Nigeria have failed to domesticate the Federal Child Rights Act (CRA), especially in the northern part of the country.
He also noted that the federal government's failure to legislate and enforce the minimum age of 18 for those seeking a constitutionally recognized marriage is a factor in the increase in child marriage.< /p> Domestic violence
When it comes to domestic violence, the executive director of the Women's Rights and Health Project (WRAHP), Bose Ironsi, said the girl is still a long way from where she should be.
She said the girl is not safe anywhere because she suffers the most whenever there is terrorism, kidnappings and other forms of insecurity.
Ms Ironsi said women who were teenagers ten years ago and are now married still face all forms of domestic violence.
“We have cases of couples who have been married for less than five years and who find themselves in abusive situations. So the fact that the international day started 10 years ago has not helped to reduce the cases domestic violence in many cases,” she said.
"We don't have the political will to fight it. So I will say we are still where we were 10 years ago, even though people are speaking out more, voices are getting louder and justice is more and more conscious.
"There are many resources in place, especially in Lagos, but getting justice quickly remains a problem. And people still have cultural issues that prevent them from reporting, so we know for a fact that where there is 1 000 reports, 3,000 go unreported,” Ms. Ironsi said.
She said that because of the delayed justice, many girls developed mental health issues which also discouraged other girls from speaking out.
“The government must do a lot to build up the courage of young girls so that there will be more reporting. adequate funding to the necessary bodies charged with dealing with these perpetrators,” she said.
Ms. Ironsi noted that civil society organizations (CSOs) are the ones doing a lot in the area of domestic violence, pointing out that the Nigerian government is doing very little in this area.
GratedOn rape, the executive director of Priceless Women found...
Peace was at her roadside shop in Festac Gate, Lagos, where she sells cooked and peppered cowhide. She looked very sad and discouraged as I approached her. At just 20 years old, she is raising her four children alone from a failed marriage.
Lost in thought, she didn't notice me until I touched her shoulder. She apologized.
Noticing that she was always distracted, I asked her what the problem was. Her story centers around her experience as a victim of child marriage.
The young woman, as she recalls, was a bubbly child while living with her poor parents in Imo State. Then one day in 2014, when she was 13, she returned from the market with her mother and older siblings when her father handed her over to a man he called her husband, who brought to live with him in Lagos.
Peace said she knew he wasn't the right man for her. But she couldn't get rid of him until she had four children with him.
“My village has a high divorce rate because young girls are forced into marriage at a very young age and many end up leaving the men to return to their parents in the village,” she said.< /p>
“My concern now is how I am going to take care of my four children. I was thinking about how to offset their school fees just now,” she explained.
10 years laterIt has been 10 years since the world began marking the International Day of the Girl Child (IDGC), which has brought attention to issues affecting girls in Nigeria and around the world.
State governments, policy makers and the general public lent their voices to the campaign for a better life for girls. Yet investments in girls' rights remain limited and girls continue to face challenges preventing them from realizing their potential.
Imo State, where Peace is from, passed the Girl Child Act (GCA) 18 years ago on August 4, 2004. But girls under 18 are still married in the country. southeastern state of Nigeria to men they have never met in their lives.
A recent report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) predicted that Nigeria will have 29 million child brides by 2050.
The report states that many states in Nigeria have failed to domesticate the Federal Child Rights Act (CRA), especially in the northern part of the country.
He also noted that the federal government's failure to legislate and enforce the minimum age of 18 for those seeking a constitutionally recognized marriage is a factor in the increase in child marriage.< /p> Domestic violence
When it comes to domestic violence, the executive director of the Women's Rights and Health Project (WRAHP), Bose Ironsi, said the girl is still a long way from where she should be.
She said the girl is not safe anywhere because she suffers the most whenever there is terrorism, kidnappings and other forms of insecurity.
Ms Ironsi said women who were teenagers ten years ago and are now married still face all forms of domestic violence.
“We have cases of couples who have been married for less than five years and who find themselves in abusive situations. So the fact that the international day started 10 years ago has not helped to reduce the cases domestic violence in many cases,” she said.
"We don't have the political will to fight it. So I will say we are still where we were 10 years ago, even though people are speaking out more, voices are getting louder and justice is more and more conscious.
"There are many resources in place, especially in Lagos, but getting justice quickly remains a problem. And people still have cultural issues that prevent them from reporting, so we know for a fact that where there is 1 000 reports, 3,000 go unreported,” Ms. Ironsi said.
She said that because of the delayed justice, many girls developed mental health issues which also discouraged other girls from speaking out.
“The government must do a lot to build up the courage of young girls so that there will be more reporting. adequate funding to the necessary bodies charged with dealing with these perpetrators,” she said.
Ms. Ironsi noted that civil society organizations (CSOs) are the ones doing a lot in the area of domestic violence, pointing out that the Nigerian government is doing very little in this area.
GratedOn rape, the executive director of Priceless Women found...
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