Child marriage: Stella Damasus, Sani Yerima clash on Al Jazeera

By Charles Mgbolu

Nollywood actress Stella Damasus and Senator Yerima were both guests on 'The Stream' a programme aired on International News Network Al Jazeera. They went head-to-head on the controversial issue of Child marriage.

[caption id="attachment_412368" align="alignnone" width="412"] *Stella, Yerima[/caption]

Senator Yerima re-affirmed that he married his fourth wife when she was 14 years and they both now have a son together. He said he finds nothing wrong with his actions, claiming that his 14 year-old wife had reciprocated his feelings.

Stella Damascus counter-argued, citing several Child rights charters signed by Nigeria concerning marriage and the rights of the girl-child. She insisted that those breaking the agreements should be labelled criminals and prosecuted.

Watch the rest of their engaging argument here...

 

'Child marriage not in conformity with Nigerian Law'

BY OUR REPORTERS

Many days after the news broke, reactions to the proposed Child Marriage Law show no signs of letting up. From clerics to educationists, lawyers and of course, activists, opinions are divided. While some believe the customs and traditions of  northern senators agitating for  child marriage  should be taken into consideration, the majority have outrightly condemned such a move. Here are what experts think about the Senate's controversial endorsement:

We must bow down to the culture and traditions of  our people—Ebenezer Babatope

I believe before the National Assembly would approve such a bill, they must have taken into consideration the customs and traditions of the North. But I don’t support child marriage in any way.

[caption id="attachment_226353" align="alignleft" width="175"] Ebenezer Babatope[/caption]

I am a Christian and Christianity is against such. How can a girl be given out in marriage? A girl is not mature enough for such an institution, but we must bow down to the culture and traditions of our people. The only thing I won’t agree with is if it is forced on other states outside the North, because you can be sure other states of the Federation are against such a move.

The solution lies in education and enlightenment — Festus Okoye

If I had a 13-year-old daughter, she should be in school and not married. A 13-year-old girl, for instance, cannot form a credible opinion of what life and marriage are all about. She can’t even form a credible opinion about herself and her body.

Every country must conform to the prevalent world movement; although I agree that sometimes, customs and traditions affect the way we think and act. But we must see that those traditions are in line with what obtains in the world. Even those who married girls in the olden days didn’t sleep with them until they reached puberty and maturity.

The solution here lies in education and enlightenment. I see it more from the physical and physiological development of the girl child. We must be educated about the dangers of early marriage so that we can all keep ourselves in check.

Child marriage not in conformity with the Law—Justice Odunowo

[caption id="attachment_356746" align="alignright" width="288"] *Justice Tajuddeen Odunowo (rtd)[/caption]

Child marriage can’t be in conformity with the law because the law says anybody that reaches 18 years of age is mature and therefore can vote. So, it means any girl not yet 18 is not an adult. To give an underage girl out in marriage is an abuse and against the law.

Personally, I don’t know about customs and traditions that could support such. In places I’ve heard of, even if the girl is given out in marriage, she continues to live with the family she was married into until she matures.

We must therefore nullify such a thing because it doesn’t make sense both legally and morally.

Yerima should tell Nigerians where his daughters are — Carol Ajie (LAWA Fellow, Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa)

No, God forbid! A girl child should be in school. The bill is criminal and should be disregarded. The customary laws of the land cannot overrule the supreme law.

[caption id="attachment_406029" align="alignleft" width="250"] Carol Ajie[/caption]

So such obnoxious traditions in Nigeria should be done away with as soon as possible. The senators who shamelessly gave the law their own interpretation should be prosecuted. This same senator who led the agitation for the acceptance of the bill, years back, took a girl as a wife and kicked her out after 18 years.

This same senator took another girl from Egypt. Two years back, they wanted to prosecute him but he rushed to court to stop the wheels of justice from rolling against him. It’s this same Yerima that wants to contaminate our laws. Why is he comparing himself to Prophet Mohammed? He’s committing a sacrilege because he isn’t Prophet Mohammed! Didn’t Jesus Christ raise the dead? Can I raise the dead or do I have such powers to do so? Children should go to school, live their lives and then decide when to get married.

He should tell Nigerians how many girl children he has and did he give them out in marriage before 18 years? I bet you, his girls are in school. So why does he want to contaminate our laws?

We have to condemn this in all totality. A protest must be staged because we don’t accept it!

They want to give our young girls VVF—Yinka Odumakin

As far as I am concerned, the early marriage thing is a negative blow on our morals in this nation. The Senate Committee on Constitution Amendment is trying to cover up.

[caption id="attachment_337321" align="alignleft" width="210"] Joe Odumakin[/caption]

They want to change the clause in our constitution. The Yerimas of our time go about taking more underaged wives while their children go to better schools and others to VVF.

The senator in Ondo State who joined in signing the bill was totally disgraced during the week by both women and Youths. He was disgraced to the extent that he begged the people for forgiveness. I believe it is time for us to have a national conference. People like us who would not want our daughters to be subjected to early marriage need to set up a fight to allow our daughters go to school.

It's a sin against God and humanity—Akpori Okon

To me, this is a very big sin against God and humanity. These kids that you want to marry out early know nothing about marriage. Do you expect them to start learning all those things with their so-called husbands? Sometimes I ask myself, how would an old man feel sleeping with a kid?

I think something should be done about that - and fast too. Things like that shouldn’t be given a second thought before scrapping them. I am totally against that and I am sure every right-thinking Nigerian should not support such bills.

It is paedophilia— Tolagbe Animashaun (Senatorial Aspirant, PDP, Lagos Central District, 2011)

When a man gets married to a girl below the age of 18, he should be charged to court for paedophilia since we are copying the United States Constitution. There is a law in the US that protects children. Any adult that has anything to do with a minor is charged under that Law. It is regarded as contributing to the delinquency of a minor and carries a capital punishment.

Yerima, with no apology to him, is not fit to be a member and those senators that adopted child marriage are a big embarrassment to their constituencies. I am a devout Muslim and very much against it.

They should stop hiding behind any religion or tribe. Whether in the North-East or North-South, a child should be allowed to grow to her full potential before you put her in the family way. Will these senators encourage their  own children to go into early marriage?

The child in this context has virtually nothing to benefit from it because she is not even up to the age of consent. Why can’t they wait until the child decides what is good for her?

Our leaders need renewal of mind— Jacqueline Odiadi, President, Nigerian Association of University Women (NAUW)

[caption id="attachment_406031" align="alignright" width="250"] Jacqueline Odiadi[/caption]

The recent advocacy drive by Hon. Senator Yerima, the renowned husband of a minor and his cohorts, came as no surprise. A lot of noise was made at the time he married the Egyptian minor with a lot of fanfare, a marriage ceremony graced by a number of respectable and notable Nigerians. But as is the usual practice in Nigeria, after the initial noise, nothing else was heard and no action was taken.

The essence of education is lost if the transformation expected by the training and exposure is not imbibed and lived.

The advocates of child brides, going by the list being peddled by the media, acquired some form of education and can be categorised as frequent travellers. But unfortunately, this has done nothing to develop the minds and broader outlook of these people.

The religious argument being peddled in support of marriage to the   underaged is not tenable. In progressive Islamic countries, the intellectual, physical and general well-being of the girl child is on the front burner of developmental issues.

The Northern leaders are yet to come up with a solution on Boko Haram, the socio-economic development of the Northern part of Nigeria has been flung back decades and what is of paramount importance to these advocates of  child brides is  to satisfy their sexual urge and distort innocent minds.

I believe decent and progressive human beings should challenge this move to further dent the image of Nigeria and Nigerians. Our leaders need a transformation of the mind, body and soul to make them relevant to modern-day living in order to advance the country and its peoples along the path of global development.”

Nigerian Child has a right —Tunde Adeleye, Human Rights Activist

Quite rightly, any reason-able and sane person should be outraged about the stance of the National Assembly supporting child marriage. What surprises me more is the deafening silence from female Senators about the child marriage issue.

Not so long ago, the same Senate went up in arms denouncing gay marriage on our shores.  Clearly, the supposed premise to justify child marriage legislation simply does not hold water. What the proponents of child marriage have callously disregarded are the health complications the young minors go through during childbirth. Due to their small pelvis, complications arise whereby it results in Vestico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) - the leakage of urine and faeces through the vagina.

Evidently, these innocent young girls (minors as young as 9 years old) being abused sexually have no voice of their own. They should be in school receiving quality education. They have a Right under the Nigerian constitution to be protected and not abused. For this reason, they shouldn’t be allowed to grow up so fast and their childhood taken away from them, leaving them scarred emotionally for life.

Not surprisingly, religion and culture have been used as convenient tools over centuries to hoodwink the Nigerian society. To a degree, there is nothing overtly wrong with that, provided such laws and beliefs have led to visible transformation in the society without infringing on the rights of the people.

It is heartening to note that with the passage of time, the world is changing. People are evolving and becoming more enlightened. Even Muslim countries that used to practise child marriage have since abolished it. Similarly, the Nigerian Constitution drafted during the military rule, on the basis of a secular and not Islamic country, needs to be re-drafted as it is not representative.

Legalising child marriage  is    shameful —Akintokunbo Adejumo

[caption id="attachment_273660" align="alignleft" width="140"] Akintokunbo Adejumo[/caption]

My take on this issue is that by subtly endorsing child marriage in Nigeria, the Nigerian Senate has brought the country massive shame (we are already a joke in the comity of nations anyway). The message that is sent to the watching and discerning world is that we would rather abuse our children than protect them; that paedophiles are welcome in Nigeria.

I can already imagine seeing an influx of notorious Western paedophiles rushing to Nigeria as they used to do in Thailand, Philippines and some other Asian countries.

This is also an invitation to those wishing to embark on or commit such a crime.  But take some examples: In the United Kingdom, even watching child pornography will certainly land you in jail. If caught in the act itself, a very long prison sentence awaits such a pervert. In some countries, even, any person caught with an underage will be castrated. That is how seriously this issue of paedophilia is taken.

I was not shocked at all. Since 1999 when this current so-called democratic dispensation or rather, democratic farce started, Nigerians have slowly realised that these so-called legislators have never had our interests at heart - only to collect their atrocious and obnoxious remunerations, chase contracts, nurture their inordinate ambitions to further impose themselves on us, corrupt the youth and generally show their ignorance of the positions they forced themselves in.

The nature of the laws that have up to date been made by the Senate informs us of the calibre of people in this supposed Hallowed Chamber. They are morally bankrupt. It is rather naïve to blame Senator Yerima alone; we should blame all these charlatans calling themselves lawmakers. They are law-breakers.

Aren’t there  female Senators in the house when this law was being debated and then put to  vote? And they sat there and supported that young women of this country should be further debased and raped? And with our various Federal and State (and even Local Government) First Ladies surpassing themselves for recognition, are these phonies not supposed to be 'mothers of the nation?' Yet, they are looking at the rape and degradation of their female children?

Child marriage is another form of enslavement—Tunde Tella, Secretary, Abeokuta North Local Government

Nigeria seems not to be satisfied with the numerous challenges she is battling with and ready to create more problems. May 24,2012, the United States Senate passed the International Bill Protecting Child Marriage Act (s.414).

This bill was passed  unanimously by voice vote,demonstrating strong bipartisan support for an end to child marriage. So why should such   be legalised in Nigeria? This is a practice that will deny millions of girls their rights to health, security and education

Again, this child marriage is another method of enslavement because the child in question does not even know what marriage is. The life and future of the girl bride will be at the mercy of the man because she cannot make concrete decisions about her life or future. Also,the girl in question does not understand love or her responsibilities as a married woman.

Whereas marriage should  be a bond agreement between two people that are of age. For me,child marriage is absurd because it leaves the girl child socially isolated with little education, skills and opportunities for employment and self-realisation.

It is forced marriage—Barrister Kaka

Let me start by saying that child marriage constitutes forced marriage. Forced marriage can be explained as a marriage established without the valid consent of one or both parties, and at such duress whether physical or emotional is non-negotiable.

[caption id="attachment_406032" align="alignleft" width="175"] Barrister Kaka[/caption]

Child marriage should be recognised as violation of children's rights and a direct form of discrimination against a child, especially the girl bride who as a result of the practice is often deprived of her basic rights to health,education, development and equality.

The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child,1990,Article XXI, states that “child marriage and the betrothal of girls and boys shall be prohibited  and effective actions, including legislation, shall be taken to specify the minimum age of  marriage to be 18 years.”

On the part of the Senate’s Child Marriage Bill, there was no age certification,which means there is ambiguity in that bill. What was passed into law is for a girl child that is married to be accorded adult status. The Senate still needs to sit over this issue.

There should be a clear definition of the child in this regard. The Nigerian Constitution states that adulthood  begins from the voting age of 18years and now these senators want a person below 18 to be accorded adulthood. It has to be upturned.

Also, the implication of child marriage on the society is that anybody can decide to behave irrationally to a girl. It is like legalising immorality, promoting promoscuity  and forceful marriage.

It will cause complications during child birth - Medical practitioner

The child bride is likely to become pregnant at an early age and there is a strong correlation between the age  of a mother and maternal mortality. Girls between ages 10-14 are five times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than women aged 20-24, and girls aged 15-19 are twice as likely to die.

Young mothers face higher risks during pregnancies, including complications such as heavy bleeding, fistula, infection,anaemia and other ailments which contribute to higher mortality rates of both mother and child.

It's a symptom of faulty federalism —Adegbuyi

A chieftain of the Afenifere Renewal Group and lawyer, Mr. Bisi Adegbuyi, described the controversies trailing the inability of the Senate to remove the obnoxious law encouraging girl child marriage from the Constitution as unnecessary misconception and interpretation.

Attributing the issue to Nigeria’s faulty federalism, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) stalwart regretted that Nigeria's fault lines were widening and canvassed enthronement of a true federal structure that would take care of Nigerian’s diverse cultural and religious beliefs.

Last Tuesday, the Senate, as part of the ongoing constitutional amendment exercise, voted that any married woman of ripe age is free to renounce her citizenship.

The Senate wanted to expunge a controversial section of the constitution which makes any married woman an adult, but the proposal failed because those in favour could not get the 2/3 majority votes constitutionally required for the proposal to sail through due to shortage of 13 votes because 60 Senators voted for its removal as against 73 required votes; while 35 voted for its retention.

The alleged under-age marriage provision is an existing law in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as contained in section 29 clauses 4(b) which states that “any woman that is married in Nigeria is of full age.”

The failed amendment is generating furore in the polity following the interpretation that an under-aged girl who gets married will be deemed to be of full age (18 years and above).

Reacting to the controversies, Adegbuyi said there was a need to clear the misconception and misinterpretation of Section 29 (4a) and (4b) of the constitution, which he said were in respect of a woman who wants to renounce her Nigerian citizenship.

According to him, the Child Rights Act sufficiently deals with the issue of under-age marriage.

Adegbuyi said the controversies would not have arisen if the country  had been practising true federalism. “There are cultural differences and different religious beliefs in Nigeria. If your culture permits taking a child as a wife, nobody can stop it.

In Yoruba land, Western Nigeria, where I come from, our culture and history frown at marrying an under-age. But Western Nigeria is not Nigeria as a whole. We have different people, different backgrounds and different cultures. There is no culture that is universal.

“The Federal Government as represented by the National Assembly has no business talking about marriage. That is why we say let each state have its own constitution so that if people of a particular state want under-age marriage, they can do it within their state without making it a national law.

“The fault lines of Nigeria as a nation are becoming manifest. So this one-size- fits-all approach to issues will continue to break Nigeria down. People who believe that their religion allows them to marry under-age girls should do so within their area of jurisdiction.

“We will not do ourselves any good if we continue to vilify the Senate. The obnoxious law is in the Constitution. The Constitution was not made by the Senate. The Senate wanted to amend it and failed. It is a specific provision regarding a woman who wants to renounce her citizenship and not marriage.”

Child marriage: It contradicts Child Rights Act - Anaba

BY EBUN SESSOU
Barrister Itoro Eze-Anaba, a human rights activist, explains the legal implications of child marriage.   

What is your opinion on the 1999 Constitution which says 'any woman who is married shall be deemed of full age?'

Section 29(4)(b) of the Constitution is against all reason and practical wisdom. Are we saying any child that is married has suddenly become an adult based solely on the fact that she is married?

[caption id="attachment_405254" align="alignright" width="288"] Barrister Itoro Eze-Anaba[/caption]

This is wrong because a child is a child. We should ask why old men like taking young girls as wives.

Children of the rich are given the opportunity to develop, go to school up to university level and at times postgraduate level before getting married.

In many instances, it is only children of the poor who suffer from early marriage, are withdrawn from school and given out in marriage to men old enough to be their fathers and grandfathers.

What are the legal implications of this section?

The section contradicts several international and regional human rights instruments signed and ratified by Nigeria. It even contradicts the Child Rights Act, a domestic legislation that states clearly that no person below the age of 18 shall be married. Is a child below 18 who marries and is deemed to be of full age allowed to vote?

How would you describe early marriage for a girl child?

Early marriage has many implications for the girl child. In the first instance, the girl child is not given the opportunity to mature and make informed choices about issues that affect her.

So she is robbed of decision- making powers. She is also denied the right to education as she is withdrawn from school in order to be married. Her right to development is therefore violated.

The girl child also faces severe health risks as a result of early marriage and pregnancy. Since her reproductive organs are not fully developed and ready for childbirth, she could die in the process and of course she stands the risk of VVF, which is more common among children having babies.

Would you support expunging this section from the Constitution?

I fully support the removal of this section from the Constitution.

 

Child marriage: Pay her school fees, not her bride price

FOR as long as I can remember, delusion, self-interest and greed have motivated not only the Nigerian government but the Nigerian people who often respond to the calculating, preying actions of their leaders not with outrage, but with the cunning of those who will profit by supporting what we all know to be wrong.

However, today I am proud of the outpouring of reactions following the passage of the Senate’s Bill making the age of consent in Nigeria 13 (in most European countries it is 16 and even in Spain, where it is still 13, activists, public figures, fight tirelessly to have it raised).

Child marriage has been legalised in Nigeria, everything our mothers and grand mothers have fought for, to guarantee us a right to education, a right to determine and decide for ourselves our path in life, has been swiftly destroyed. One question remains: Where are the female members of the Senate?

Nigerian women need to know they deserve better. When a female House of Representatives member is interviewed, she is often happy to answer banal questions on her favourite colour, the number of Chanel bags she owns, her favourite holiday spot.

Even film stars are more intellectually challenged by the media. Mothers, sisters, daughters in every walk of life, we all need to recognise that we deserve better, that we should be valued more than the amount we can fetch by being sold at the altar, that we are more than our fashion choices, no matter how elaborate, that we are more than the incredible pressure society puts on women to seek existence and outright fulfilment in marriage.

Our lives as women are worth something. It might seem like a moot point. But believe me when I say that there are women, even powerful women in Nigeria and Africa today, who need to realise this because they are the only ones who can truly champion the rights of the girl-child. I ask the female members of both Houses today, how many of their daughters marry at 13.

I ask the wealthy, carefree politicians in Abuja today, how many have given away their precious brood to men three or four times their age who would be free to use them as they see fit. Most host lavish weddings which fill the society pages of our magazines and the pictures tell an interesting story: one of political and business marriages to secure benefits and further hoard economic opportunities by concentrating them in the hands of the few at the expense of the many.

It is the daughters of the poor and the uneducated that we expect to marry at 13 because they have no voice and more so because their families are in desperate need of money. So their innocence, their right to dream is butchered on the altar of some of our lawmaker’s perversities, who seek out poor young girls and turn them into playthings.

We hide behind religion to excuse horrific deeds. Both Christians and Muslims are guilty of this in the Nigeria of today. The legalisation of child brides will open the road towards abusers marrying their victims and therefore being excused. In fact, we are tacitly changing the very definition of rape or of any kind of abuse in a society where the rights of women and children are already so difficult to uphold.

On whose side is our government? Whose will are our legislators serving? If their goal is to tear this country apart then they are doing a fine job by giving Islam a bad name. Christians, this is not Islam. Nor is it another attempt at the islamisation of Nigeria, unlike what I have heard.

Nor is this symptomatic of the North’s refusal to modernise or due to the unhealthy influence of Boko Haram on Muslim communities. Simply put, it is yet another example of government’s blatant attempt to legalise gluttony, self-indulgence and covetousness under every and any form. It is right to steal pensions.

It is right to treat those without a rich father or a Mercedes Benz like second class citizens, to deny them a voice because they are unable to buy votes or pay for the hard earned right to preach hate, divisive falsehoods and general misunderstanding between ethnic groups and religious communities. It is right and acceptable to rob children of their innocence.

Child brides are not Muslim culture. Nor are they an inherent part of Hausa culture. Rather, the perpetuation of this practice is based on debatable interpretations of the Quran. History shows that sex with pre-pubescent girls pre-dates Islam and can thus not be considered typical of Islamic belief. As such, we must recognise, due to the availability of modern science and technology, the health implications of children becoming pregnant, which your average Nigerian who might be in favour of child marriages, might not fully understand.

Then, it is the duty of the Senate to educate its constituents rather than to pass controversial, misogynistic bills, which criminals will see as a path to the legalisation of sexual slavery and paedophilia across the board. Our lawmakers never seem to consider the possible unintended consequences of their actions. Child trafficking, rape, the brutality many young girls face in Nigeria today, are sore topics many would rather not address.

Every day life in Nigeria devalues women. In offices, crude, extremely lewd jokes are made about women who also laugh at them like it means nothing.

We suffer unwanted advances, which are difficult to report. Female heads of human resources tell interns it is their provocative dressing which attracts men and that they must pray for guidance. So, to those Southerners who will see this as an opportunity for more Northern bashing, look long and hard at yourselves. Women in Nigeria are commodities, property. No more than cattle in fancy clothing.

The Quran condemns non-consensual marriages. How many of us believe that it is a 13-year- old’s dream to be married to an old man? Men and women in Islam have equal status before God. Ironically, in practice, men who are greedy for money and power turn the writings upside down and excuse behaviour whose sole intent is to keep women down.

I am a Christian, a Southerner and many I am sure will say I don’t know or understand Islam. One thing I do know is that I believe in one Nigeria and I feel akin to every young girl up North (and who is to say it won’t happen down South now that it is legal) who will be sold to an old man to settle debts or simply given as a gift. Let us all remember the little girls we once were, picture our daughters, our nieces, our sisters and our friends when we think of the nameless, faceless young girls who are being robbed of their childhood.

I am writing this because I want the world to know our Senate’s shame, especially that of our female Senators, with their expensive salaries (let us remember that the members of our upper and lower chambers earn more than the US president), their diamonds and properties purchased with the blood and tears of Nigerian children.

But we the youth of Nigeria will never cease to believe in progress and progressive religion. We will never cease to believe in one Nigeria, we are bigger than our differences and stronger than our disagreements. We are a country destined for greatness, inspite of our leaders who choose not to allow it. I am every Nigerian the government chooses to sacrifice.

I am every child who goes to bed hungry. I am every jobless graduate. I am every young person who dies in a plane crash due to negligence. I am every person who dies on our bad roads or in our poorly equipped hospitals. I am every Nigerian who despite all this believes in change. It’s called the Audacity of Hope.

By TABIA PRINCEWILL

Child marriage: We must stop getting our young girls pregnant

By SOLA OGUNDIPE
AT 13, Hafsat Auwalu was married. At 14, she became pregnant. When it was time for her to be delivered of her baby, Hafsat was taken to the nearby primary healthcare facility where she laboured for hours, but the baby would not come out.

There was a problem. Hafsat is frail in stature with a small pelvis. Her pelvis was too narrow for the head of the baby to pass through.  She pushed and pushed, but the baby’s head was lodged in the narrow birth canal. The pain was excruciating.

[caption id="attachment_405891" align="alignnone" width="412"] Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina, Executive Secretary of Women Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative, Mrs. Saudatu Mahdi and Mrs. Felicia Onibon from Change Managers International Network, addressing newsmen on constitutional amendment by the Senate[/caption]

There was nothing the birth attendants could do. There was no doctor on call and no one in attendance had the skill or the equipment to perform an emergency Caesarean Section. They only urged her to push harder. To worsen her plight the unskilled birth attendants simply cut through the birth canal to create passage for the baby.

Pressure against pelvis

As she pushed, the pressure against her pelvis gradually cut off blood to the surrounding tissue. Eventually, the tissue around her birth canal and bladder died off, creating a fistula, or hole. When the baby finally emerged, it was stillbirth.

The worst had happened. The would-be mother began to stink, urine trickling out of her unabated. Days passed and nothing changed. Hafsat had suffered an obstetric accident known as Vesico-Vaginal Fistula, VVF - one of the worst and most dreaded complications of childbirth. She is one of the millions of girls aged 11-18 in the country who become mothers early or through accidental pregnancy as a result of unprotected sexual intercourse.

Demeaning and degrading, the disorder is typified by continuous and uncontrollable leakage of urine from a woman’s bladder. A variant that occurs when there is uncontrolled passage of faeces is referred to as Recto-Vaginal Fistula, RVF.

No thanks to the practice of early marriage, obstetric fistula, a serious medical condition eradicated in North America and Europe over a Century ago, is still around as thousands continue to live with it in countries such as Nigeria where at least 100,000 new cases occur every year.

Treatment at gynaecology clinics

According to the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, in sub-Saharan Africa, where one in 10 girls becomes a mother by age 16, scores of girls and women suffering from one or both forms of fistulae are condemned to carry the brand of social outcasts and even though there is treatment at gynaecology clinics nationwide, most healthcare personnel are ill prepared to deal with the malady.

Dr. Ejike Orji, Country Representative, Ipas Nigeria. describes obstetric fistula as one of the most telling forms of maternal morbidity. “It usually occurs when a girl who is too young to get pregnant in the first place, suffers prolonged labour without timely access to emergency Caesarean Section. It is a debilitating condition that continues to leave hundreds of thousands of girls and women incontinent, suffering in solitude and shame.

Orji, a gynaecologist and obstetrician, points out that the key to ending complications of childbirth such as obstetric fistula is to prevent them from happening in the first place.

“Early marriage puts girls at great risk for premature child-bearing, disability and death. When a girl is under-aged and is pregnant, the birth canal is not well developed. It is narrow and unable to carry the head of the baby. If the baby is forced to pass through the birth canal, two things can happen.

“The girl, who is a baby herself and has no business having babies, would either rupture her uterus, and both the girl and the baby will die. The other thing that can happen is that even if the girl succeeds in delivering the baby after several hours of labour, she will end up with VVF, or if it is in the rural area where there is no skilled attendants, she will develop RVF. VVF occurs as she is pushing; she is stressing the tissues of the birth canal, because the head of baby is bigger than the birth canal.”

Presenting a graphic illustration of VVF, also known as an ‘obstetric disaster’ in medical circles, Orji explained that with continuous pushing, the baby’s head presses between the pubic bone and the urethra which takes urine from the bladder.

“When it presses for a long time usually 4-5 hours, the blood supply to that urethra will stop and that place will have what is called ischaemic death and fall off. So passage of urine will now be interrupted between the bladder and birth canal. The girl will no longer be able to hold or control urine anymore.

Immediately urine comes in from the kidney, it pours into the birth canal. And what happens is that the husband will reject her because she will be smelling of urine and will be sent back to her parents. The final thing is that she will hate herself. This is a big issue,” he remarked.

Orji stated that there was a time Nigeria contributed 10 percent of all maternal deaths in the world, and though the Midwifery Service Scheme enabled the nation to reduce the maternal mortality incidence almost by 50 per cent, the contribution of Nigeria to global maternal mortality has actually increased by 15 percent.

“Six years ago, a study was conducted to find out which women were actually dying in terms of age that was why when it was painfully realised that 70 percent of maternal deaths are young girls of 18 and below.  What is happening is that other countries’ maternal mortality control method is working faster.

One of the key areas is that we keep making our young girls pregnant. If we eliminate teenage pregnancy, we will eliminate almost 50 percent of maternal deaths. If you look at abortion related deaths, 50-60 percent of theses deaths are among adolescents aged 10-24, the proportion that suffers that burden.

“If you marry a girl who is under 18, and start having sex with the girl and you say you will keep her  till 18 before  she gets pregnant, the girl will not die, but the consequences is that she would be out of school,  and she would never, never get to her highest potential.

It is only in rare cases that you see such girls reach their life potential. We do know that in a girl that is well educated the outcome of the baby is better.” Findings show that complications during pregnancy and childbirth are leading causes of death among adolescent girls aged 15-19 resulting in thousands of deaths each year in low-resource and middle-income countries such as Nigeria.

Data from the UNFPA and Guttmacher Institute reveal that the risk of maternal mortality is higher for adolescent girls, especially those aged 15 and below, compared to older women. “Adolescent pregnancy brings detrimental social and economic consequences for a girl, her family, her community and her nation. Elimination of child marriage and meeting adolescents sexual and reproductive health needs would protect their rights and help prevent girls from having too many children too early in life.

Adolescent pregnancies

“Adolescent pregnancies put newborns at risk. The risk of death during the first month of life is 50 percent higher among babies born to adolescent mothers. The younger the mother is, the higher the risk for the baby, says the WHO.”

A 2011 Report from the UN General Assembly titled “The Girl Child – Report of The Secretary General” affirms that: “The younger a girl is when she becomes pregnant, whether she is married or not, the greater the risk to her health. Girls under the age of 15 are at more risk of dying in childbirth than women in their 20s,” the Report concludes.

Findings from the UNICEF State of the World’s Children’s Report 2011 show that young women make up 64 percent of all new infections among people worldwide. “This is not just because they are more physiologically susceptible but because they are also at higher risk for sexual violence and rape, both inside and outside of marriage. In a marriage, adolescent girls often have limited control over contraceptive use or whether sex takes place or not."

Child marriage supporters blackmailed us to have their way - Mark

By SAM EYOBOKA, SOLA OGUNDIPE, HENRY UMORU & JOSEPH ERUNKE
ABUJA— SENATE President, David Mark, yesterday, said proponents of Section 29 (4)(b) in the constitution hid under religious guise to get the section sail through during last week’s clause-by-clause voting in the on-going constitution amendment process.

He said it was time Nigerians shunned religion when dealing with sensitive issues if the country must forge ahead.

Already, the Christian Association of Nigerian, CAN, has concluded plans to mobilize Nigerians to protest the non-amendment of provisions of the Constitution, just as the Paediatric Association of Nigeria, PAN, has called for immediate reinstatement of the age of marriage to 18 years.

Religious sentiment

Mark, who said but for religious sentiment that was injected into the voting period, the section in question which tends to give support to underage marriage, would have been completely deleted from the nation’s constitution.

[caption id="attachment_405725" align="alignnone" width="412"] David Mark[/caption]

He regretted that rather than being praised, the upper legislative chamber was being vilified over its bold attempt to have the controversial clause removed from the country’s law book.

Speaking yesterday, while hosting the leadership of some women groups, under the aegis of Gender and Constitution Reform Network, GECORN, which stormed the National Assembly in protest over the controversial section, the Senate President lamented non-appreciation of the Senate for attempting to delete the said portion which he noted had been in the Nigerian Constitution since 1979.

“The good of the country is for everybody and not for a particular religious sect. Let me also talk to my own brothers and sisters who are senators, who were probably blackmailed. That is the fact, because it is in the open that I cannot also hide it and nobody can hide it. They were simply blackmailed, and on that day, if they didn’t do what they did, nobody knows the outcome or how the consequences will be today, because the people outside can say this man, you are Muslim and didn’t vote for something that is of Islamic interest, because if we don’t hit the nail squarely on the head, we may never get it right,” he insisted.

Even as he regretted that the Red Chamber could not secure the 73 votes required to delete it, he, nonetheless, assured that it was not yet over with the controversial clause, saying in no time, the Senate would revisit the issue with a view to getting it expunged from the constitution.

Mark stated: “It didn’t go through because of other tangential issues that were brought in on the floor of the Senate, total inconsequential issues, unconnected issues that were brought in. We wanted to remove it but it failed, we were a total of 101 and 85 voted and I think about six or so abstained. There was hardly any dissenting votes but once it got mixed up with so many other issues, it didn’t get the required 73 votes anymore”.

Noting that the public was castigating the Senate over the issue based on ignorance, he said: “So, first of all, I think the castigation outside is done out of misunderstanding. Because a religious connotation was brought into it, which is a very sensitive issue and you must agree with me that in this country, we try as much as possible not to bring issues that involves faith to the floor of the Senate and indeed the chamber, we keep religion completely out of it because what is good for a Christian is also good for a Muslim.

Earlier, leader of the spokesperson of the group and Executive Secretary of Women’s Right Advancement and Protection Alternative, WRAPA, Mrs. Saudautu Shehu Mahdi, said they were in the Senate not only to register their displeasure over last Tuesday’s Senate’s voting supporting the retention of Section 29 (4)(b), but to call on the National Assembly, as a whole to revisit the issue with a view to deleting it completely from the constitution.

Sandwiched between Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajia Zainab Maina, and the former Minister of Education, Mrs Obiageli Ezekwesili, Mrs Mahdi said “citizenship is and must remain gender-neutral and safeguarded from any cultural, religious or social interpretations or connotations”. She added: “The harm of maintaining Section 29(4)(b),which is open to manipulation arising from its ambiguity, far outweighs any arguable benefits a few females might arguably obtain”.

CAN plans national protest

Meanwhile, attempts by the Senate to placate Nigerians notwithstanding, the Christian Association of Nigerian, CAN, is planning to call out Nigerians to protest the non-amendment of the controversial provisions of Section 29 (4b) of the 1999 Constitution, just as the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos describes the endorsement of child marriage as inhuman.

National President, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, who spoke to Vanguard in Lagos before he jetted out of the country, described the Senate’s endorsement of child marriage as a shame, adding “the only solution is for Nigerians to cry out.”

He wondered whether Nigerians had been too brutalized “that we have no voice anymore to cry out, because it’s like we are so used to wrong things that everybody just accepts it when it comes. So is this the way we are going to accept this again? I hope not, honestly. It’s a great disappointment. It’s totally against normal human justice. Children don’t know anything; they can’t fight for themselves. So we’ll fight for them. If the National Assembly of a country can vote for adults to sleep with children, your own children; it just reflects and shows the condition of the nation.

“If it is true that the Senate first voted to say that only girls above 18 should be married; and then that vote was turned down by Mr. Yerima, and that was overturned; and later they now voted that even children should be married…if it is true, I think it is one of the greatest shames of the century for Nigeria as a nation. Not just the National Assembly because the National Assembly is a reflection of Nigeria; it is a shame. It’s a disgrace. I feel ashamed to call myself a Nigerian. There are places I will go into right now and I don’t know what I’m going to do, especially those of us that travel around the world."

Also speaking through the Director of Social Communications, Very Rev. Msgr. Gabriel Osu, the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Archbishop Alfred Adewale Martins, called on the law makers to quickly rethink and rescind their decision and show some respect for the wishes of the people. He said: “Failure to do this would lend credence to the popular belief that their junketing around the nation under the guise of receiving grassroots opinion on constitutional amendment was another ruse for wasting time and the nation’s resources.”

Archbishop Martins added that any attempt by the Senate to hold on to its present position would mean giving consent to an obnoxious provision that found its way into a military-engineered constitution which deprive many a girl-child the right to grow into healthy and productive adults. Retaining that provision of the 1999 constitution would amount to endorsing a provision that robs children of their childhood.

Leave  marriage age at 18, PAN pleads

In a related development, the Paediatric Association of Nigeria, PAN, has called for called for immediate reinstatement of the age of marriage at 18 years in the country.

Expressing shock over the retention of the controversial Section 29 (4b) of the 1999 Constitution, in the new Federal constitution proposal, to the effect that the age of marriage which has been traditionally put at 18 years has been expunged, PAN National President, Professor Adebiyi Olowu and the National Secretary, Dr. Jerome Elusiyan, argued that  the according to the United Nations convention to which Nigeria is a signatory, 18 years remained the age of maturity.

“It is no surprise that the age of 18 years is also the age that adulthood begins and the age at which an individual is allowed to vote, drive and own bank account among others,” the duo noted in a signed statement..

PAN stated: “Our Association takes this as an abuse of the right of the child to which our country Nigeria is a signatory and expresses its readiness to join forces with well meaning Nigerians and other interest groups to see to the reinstatement of 18 years as the age of marriage in Nigeria. This amendment in the marriage act if allowed will make Nigeria a laughing stock in the comity of nations.”

It warned that the medical consequences of Girl Child Marriage which includes development of Vesico-Vaginal Fistula,VVF, low birth weight, birth asphyxia among others should strongly be a deterrent to this act that is universally condemnable.

Early Marriage? By Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu

Here is one of the most informed articles since the debate on child marriage broke. It is a trending post on Nasir El-Rufai's Facebook wall.

A virus is a small infectious agent replicates only inside the living cells.Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria. Since 1892 when Dmitri Ivanovsky described a non-bacterial pathogen infecting tobacco, about 5,000 viruses have been described in detail. They can be found in every ecosystem on Earth and are the most abundant type of biological entity.

Of late, virus have found a heavenly host in the Nigerian social media network.

In minutes,a concept can go viral,permeating every corner of the world.This trend can be greatly beneficial, but also deadly dangerous. On this particular occasion I find it dangerous. In the last 48hrs, there has been an outcry on social media about a bill in the Nigerian Senate to legalise child marriage. The bone of contention simply ' Instead, they gave a legislative seal of approval for the marriage of underage girls. That means even a 5 year old toddler could be married off by her parents' Purported to be pushed by Senator Yerima Ahmed Sani,the former governor of Zamfara state,the institutor of sharia law and admittedly a colourful and controversial figure.

There is no reference to where this legislative seal lies. Which section, of which constitution. All that is going round is an advocacy outcry and anti-child marriage logos. If this rage against the so called amendment legalising child marriage is to remind us of Yerima's marriage to an Egyptian girl a few years ago, then let us clearly say so. Again if the aim is to create awareness against child marriage, then kudos again but let us be clear. But to mix up the two issues is mischievous and unnecessary.

Unfortunately it seems as a nation we delight in criticizing actions taken by leadership blindly,without objective use of glaring facts. The debate on the constitutional amendment was televised nationally. The Senate sittings are documented daily. The votes and proceedings  is a legal document produced and made available to the public. Unlike the British constitution that is unwritten, ours is written clearly and available to be bought on most street corners. So anyone that can read the English Language can access and analyze what and what happened. Instead, majority of us are just copying, pasting and broadcasting a misleading and inciting message.

What is upsetting to me personally now is that this 'us' that are spreading 'the stop the child marriage' message can read. We graduated from the best primary schools and obtained degrees from an era when universities didn't go on endless strikes.



So 'WE' have no right to be spreading messages without at the very least, verifying what the true situation is. I have received at least 10 of the messages directed against the Nigerian Senate and Ahmed Sani in particular. I am certain that all of these 10 people can read, possess TVs and internet subscriptions that enable them to access past events, and most of all, do not have up to six degrees of separation from the legislators that can easily explain what the issue is. The danger of this is obvious. We are living in divisive times when suddenly every Nigerian is acutely aware of being muslim or christian,being Urhobo or Kanuri. Feelings that certainly didn't exist in my formative years but are glaring in my twilight ones.

The issue is one split in two. Chapter 3 covers citizenship of Nigeria. Chapter 3 clause 26 relates to attaining whilst Chapter 3 clause29 relates to renouncing Nigerian citizenship.

As it is, the law allows foreign wives to obtain Nigerian citizenship via marriage; Chapter 3clause(26)(a). Conversely, if a Nigerian woman marries a foreign man, he does not automatically get the right to apply for Nigerian citizenship. That gender discrimination was considered in the ongoing review by the current lawmakers. The votes and proceedings paper of Tuesday 16th July 2013 show the senators voted to replace the word woman for person. A less discriminatory word and giving Nigerian women the power to grant her husband citizenship of her country also.

The second issue and probably the more pertinent one is the Renouncement of Nigerian citizenship. This is what is being erroneously broadcast. Chapter 3 Section 29(1) of the Nigerian constitution states that to renounce citizenship, one must be of full age. Subsection 4 goes further to define full age as a) 18yrs and above and b) woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age.

The 2013 review sought to remove the second qualifier. That is a married woman. On the surface, it didn't seem to make sense to differentiate in that manner as in the earlier section 26. Not until Senator Ahmed Sani pointed out the historic reason for this.

Whilst 18years is generally accepted as the age of maturity in most cultures Islamic law is not as clearly stated. Maturity in Islam is measured in various ways. One of which is marriage. Thus a married woman, (and NOT a 5year old) is deemed mature enough to make a decision to renounce her citizenship of Nigeria. Furthermore, in 1979,the lawmakers led by late Aminu Kano of PRP felt the age 18 years used was an arbitrary western concept of maturity. The legislators in 1979 at the time agreed to the PRP argument and it was included.

Even in the west, standards are adjusted to suit the welfare of all citizens. In the USA for instance, a 14year old that gets pregnant and has a child is eligible to social benefits,including housing, even though she cannot vote. So in her welfare,she is treated as an adult and provided safe home for herself and her child.

Last week, when Senator Ahmed Sani pointed out the same reason and sought not to remove the married woman clause. The senators voted 60 ayes to 35nos and thus the constitution will remain as it is assuming the bill that will eventually be brought from this is passed. A minimum of 72(one third) votes are required for any amendment to pass. The nays and abstains do not matter. This amendment had 60,and thus failed.

Both times, relating to section 26 and 29, the lawmakers voted in a manner that carried along gender and religion; a reflection of why each of us has a senator representing our interests. Nothing in the proceedings indicate age of marriage or how a legislative seal was given to child or even adult marriage as is being circulated in the messages going around.

Because I have mentioned Islamic law and maturity, I will mention one more point. I mention it to balance,not to start a religious debate. What is the age of competence for marriage? I am not an expert in Islamic jurisprudence, so I cannot go further than I have. However in the 12th century, the age for marriage without parental consent was set by the Roman Catholic church, a ruling which remains unchanged. For females it is 12 years and for males it is 14 years. Conversely in Islam, a 20year female old can not get married without the consent of her parents. Agreed Nigerian laws are neither Islamic or catholic. Instead the laws are guided by these major religions and native laws and customs. If we feel the need to put more clarity in this has come, then let us say so and do so in the proper way. Over the last year,each legislator has had constituency meetings on the ongoing constitutional amendments. This was stepped up to the Zonal groupings where each zone took a stand on the various issues. We had ample time to make submissions to amend our constitution. Anyone who didn't do so at the time has no moral justification to take to twitter and facebook lamblasting imaginary changes in our laws.

Yerima's fault on this occasion might also be in his timing. As a member of the current constitutional review committee, he had ample time to bring the issue to the table and stop it being included on the recommended change that was debated on Tuesday. But that is Yerima. That is his way. You can love him or hate him, that is another matter.

All I am saying here is,let us be careful in our expressing our sentiments and use social media to unite Nigeria unshakably, instead of ripping her apart bit by bit. Till there are no 5year olds left to marry even if Yerima wanted to.

Dr. Zainab Shinkafi-Bagudu is  MD Medicaid Radio-Diagnostics,  Aminu Kano Cresent, Wuse 2 Abuja.