In Nigeria, state-sponsored mass wedding of girls fuels debate of forced marriage
- Muslim clerics say the marriage is a charitable act for orphans, but critics say it contravenes Nigeria’s commitment to protect children and women’s rights
- The wedding came to light when a lawmaker announced plans to sponsor the ceremony and foot the dowries
A plan to marry off 100 Nigerian girls and young women in a state-sponsored mass wedding has sparked heated debate about child marriage and female education, with last-ditch efforts under way to ban the ceremony.
Nigeria’s women’s minister, who is leading the campaign to shelve Friday’s wedding, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation she had filed a court injunction to stop it.
Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye said the wedding violates Nigeria’s Child Rights Acts and Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act that criminalises forced marriages for women and girls.
“This marriage impinges on the rights of girls and women, who are my constituency, and I have taken action to put an end to it,” the minister said in an interview.
Many of the girls due to be married off are believed to be under age, sparking sharp criticism from rights advocates.
The wedding came to light when Abdulmalik Sarkindaj, speaker of the state assembly in the Muslim-majority state of Niger, announced plans to sponsor the ceremony and foot the dowries.
