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LequteMan
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Nigeria - According to Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido, setting 18 years as minimum age for marriage in the country won't end the emergence of child brides in Nigeria.
The ex CBN governor who has come under fire over his recent marriage to a teenager said the emergence of child bride had to do with the country's economy.
Sanusi, who was against setting 18 years as minimum age for marriage, said the first step to addressing the issue was to address the root causes of poverty in the communities.
“If you tell a man in the village, ‘don’t marry your child off till the age of 18’, what does she do between the age of 11 and 18? he said at a “Strategies to Improve the Protection of Girl Child in Nigeria” conference in Abuja.
He criticized the current Federal Government’s Revenue Sharing Formula
“We need to understand that the problem begins from the economy and from the management of the resources of the country," he said according to Channels.
He condemned a system where the states get the residual of the nation’s revenue after the Federal Government had taken a large portion of it.
“These are the states that are supposed to provide education and healthcare to hundreds of millions of people. The states are staved of funds,” the Emir said.
The Nigerian Constitution does not establish a minimum age of marriage. The Child Rights Act, which was passed in 2003, sets the age of marriage at 18 years-old. According to the Child Not Bride organization, only 23 of Nigeria’s 36 states have adopted this act. As a result, in some areas of the country the minimum age of marriage can be as low as 12 years-old.
The ex CBN governor who has come under fire over his recent marriage to a teenager said the emergence of child bride had to do with the country's economy.
Sanusi, who was against setting 18 years as minimum age for marriage, said the first step to addressing the issue was to address the root causes of poverty in the communities.
“If you tell a man in the village, ‘don’t marry your child off till the age of 18’, what does she do between the age of 11 and 18? he said at a “Strategies to Improve the Protection of Girl Child in Nigeria” conference in Abuja.
He criticized the current Federal Government’s Revenue Sharing Formula
“We need to understand that the problem begins from the economy and from the management of the resources of the country," he said according to Channels.
He condemned a system where the states get the residual of the nation’s revenue after the Federal Government had taken a large portion of it.
“These are the states that are supposed to provide education and healthcare to hundreds of millions of people. The states are staved of funds,” the Emir said.
The Nigerian Constitution does not establish a minimum age of marriage. The Child Rights Act, which was passed in 2003, sets the age of marriage at 18 years-old. According to the Child Not Bride organization, only 23 of Nigeria’s 36 states have adopted this act. As a result, in some areas of the country the minimum age of marriage can be as low as 12 years-old.
