Child marriage: Bisi Fayemi calls for sustained protest against Senate’s decision Arewa youths caution Senate

Wife of the Ekiti State governor, Chief (Mrs) Bisi Fayemi, has called for sustained protests against the decision of the Senate on girl-child marriage, saying the people must lend their voices to the ongoing outrage on the decision.

Mrs Fayemi, in a statement made available to newsmen in Ado Ekiti on Sunday, charged “more men and women of good conscience, civil society organisations, feminists and social justice crusaders to lend their voices to the ongoing outrage about the move by the Senate to legalise child marriage.”

In the statement by her Special Assistant on Media, Mr Akin Oyedele, Mrs Fayemi said “the lawmakers’ move is self-serving and at variance with all international conventions and protocols on the rights of the child, which Nigeria has ratified.”

She further said: “I’m not only disappointed by the decision of the Senate, as a mother, I’m ashamed, I’m unhappy and I’m pained that our senators, who also have female children, will vote for child marriage. This is the time in the country’s history when men and women of good conscience, civil society organisations, feminists and social justice crusaders should stand up to be counted among those vehemently protesting against the decision.”

Mrs Fayemi advised that “instead of this self-serving amendment to Section 29 B of the constitution, our lawmakers should devote more time to legislate on laws that protect the child against violence, exploitation and labour, harmful traditional practices, abuse and denial of education.”

The governor’s wife observed that “besides the social implication of hounding girl-child into early marriage, including denial of childhood and teenage development,” she noted that “there are inherent health hazards in child marriage.”

According to her, “the National Demographic Health Survey said at least 12,000 women are known to develop Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) every year in Nigeria, a good number of whom are said to be teenage girls of poor social economic background.”

Meanwhile, the Arewa Youths Forum (AYF) has cautioned the Nigerian Senate over the controversy surrounding child marriage, saying it should concentrate on making laws for the good of Nigerians, not debating on issues laced with religion and ethnicity that could further divide the people.

AYF, in a statement signed by its National President, Gambo Ibrahim Gujungu, at the weekend, said it had become expedient to make its position known in view of the fact that the issue had heated up the polity and created divisions along political, ethnic and religious lines.

The group said the senators’ approach showed that they were poorly equipped for legislative functions and grossly insensitive to the critical challenges Nigerians were facing as a people.

In a related development, a notable Nollywood actress, Mrs Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, has criticised the approval of child marriage by the Senate.
Jalade-Ekeinde expressed her feeling on the issue while speaking as a special guest at the MBGN beauty pageant on Saturday night in Yenagoa.
According to her, approving early marriage of the girl-child will expose her to various abuses and exploitation.

“The number of the Nigerian children on our streets today is alarming and this is due to the abuses and exploitation they suffer in their homes,” she said.

The actress, who was honoured with ‘SilverBird Unique Personality of the Year’ award, called on the government to rather empower the girl-child through sound and compulsory education programmes.