The Socio-Economic Effect of Early Marriage in Beguwa village -By Sulaiman Alahji Abdu

Birth, marriage and death are the standard trio of key events in most people’s lives. But only one ‘marriage’ is a matter of choice. However, marriage is regarded as a moment of celebration and a milestone in adult life. Sadly, the practice of early marriage gives no such cause for celebration when it is not done properly.

The right to exercise that choice was recognized as a principle of law even in Roman times and has long been established in international human rights instruments. Yet many girls, and a smaller number of boys, enter into marriage without any chance of exercising their right to choose. Early marriage has been a common practice among many ethnic groups in the world.

Every society and culture has some basic norms and beliefs that guide the people.  In Nigeria for instance, specifically the villages in the Northern Nigeria (Hausa – Fulani dominated) (Jigawa) allowed early marriage of the girl-child. The  assumption  is  that  once  a  girl  is  married,  she  has  become  a woman even  if  she  is  only  12.  Equally,  where  a  boy  is  made  to  marry,  he  is now  a  man  and  must  put  away  childish  things. One of the reasons they go into early marriage is to preserve the value of virginity, fears about marital sexual activity, to reduce promiscuity of the girl-child, and other socio-cultural and religious norms. However, due to the ignorance and selfish nature, more often than not they forget the effect it has on the girl- child as well as their community development. It is worrisome that the girl- child has no power to resist the offer. The effect of early marriage on the girl-child that affects her wellbeing and that of the society include education, lack of economic empowerment and lack of knowledge on reproductive health services which will enable them take informed decisions, enhance their ability to leverage resources and participate in community decision making.

On the contrary, early marriage violates the rights of children with often more negative consequences on the girls than the boys. This compromises their overall development, leaving them socially isolated with little or no education, skills and opportunities for employment and self-realization. These conditions ultimately make married girls more vulnerable to poverty.

Yet, many villages continue to support the idea that girls should marry at or soon after puberty. Their spouses are likely to be a few years older than they are, but may be more than twice their age. This practice is against the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) recommendations on the rights of the children which include right to free and full consent to a marriage as recognized in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), education, empowerment, health determination. Most villages like Beguwa in Jigawa has domesticated these international agreements and enacted Acts that will further enhance the rights of the children. But implementing the Acts in most villages has been controversial as  the state is also being guided by Islamic laws that have a soft landing on early marriage by considering age as not a very significant factor in marriage.

Meanwhile, tradition and culture endorse the concept of early marriage, the 1999 Nigerian constitution is silent on the issue, although it could be implied from the provisions of section 29 that parties to a marriage must be of full age. Under subsection 29(4)(a), ‘any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age’. On the other hand, subsection (4) (a) stated that ‘full age’ means the age of eighteen years and above. Thus, in spite of that section of Nigerian constitution, early marriage still poses a problem in most part of Nigeria, as in many other countries in Africa and beyond. It is practiced and justified in the name of tradition, culture and religion. That was why some people like the former governor of Zamfara state, Alh. Ahmed Sani Yerima Bakura and Mmerole Ogha the husband of Mgbeoye got married to a 13 and 9 year old girl respectively. Especially vulnerable are young girls in rural areas, poor, and deprived communities. This situation reflects the relatively strong adherence to tradition, and the relative lack of opportunities affecting women in rural areas.

The resolution reiterates the commitments to undertake legal reforms to ensure the rights of girls, to provide for equal access to basic social services (such as education, nutrition, vaccination, and health care, including sexual and reproductive health care), to enact and enforce legislation against all forms of violence and exploitation and to protect girls affected by armed conflict.

Besides having a negative impact on girls themselves, the practice of early marriage also has negative consequences on their children, families, and society as a whole (Adedokun, et. al., (2012). They argued that it is not only girls that pay for early marriage but also the society as a whole. Population pressure, health care costs and lost opportunities of human development (because of lack of education) are just a few of the growing burdens that society shoulders because of teenage pregnancies. Early marriage also undermines international efforts to fight against poverty in developing countries. This point to the fact that the widespread practice of child marriage makes it increasingly difficult for families to escape poverty in the developing countries like Nigeria, thereby undermining critical efforts by the three tiers of government to address education challenges, fight poverty, HIV/AIDS and other development challenges.

Early marriage contributes to a series of negative consequences both for young girls and the society in which they live. It is a violation of human rights in general and of girl’s rights in particular. For both girls and boys, early marriage has profound physical, intellectual, psychological and emotional impacts; cutting off educational and employment opportunities and chances of personal growth. A paper of this nature is necessary in other to create awareness of the importance of girl-child education in Nigeria and in the villages in Northern region in particular if it could answer questions such; What are the reasons behind early marriage perpetuation in Beguwa in Ringim local government area?

Does early marriage affect girls’ wellbeing and constitutes a violation on their human rights in Beguwa in Ringim local government area?

Does early marriage hinder development in Beguwa in Ringim local government area?

Does early marriage leads to poor development in Beguwa in Ringim local government area.

What are the consequences of early marriage of girl-child in Beguwa in Ringim local government area?What are the possible ways to address the challenge of early marriage of girl-child in Beguwa in Ringim local government area?

Let’s just ask ourselves, what is Early Marriage?

Early marriage” is used to refer to both formal marriages and informal unions in which a girl lives with a partner as if married before age of 18 (UNICEF 2005; forum on marriage and the rights of women and girls 2001). For UNIFPA (2006) early marriage, also known as Child Marriage, is defined as “any marriage carried out below the age of 18 years, before the girl is physically, physiologically, and psychologically ready to shoulder the responsibilities of marriage and childbearing”. Child marriage, on the other hand, involves either one or both spouses being children and may take place with or without formal registration, and under civil, religious or customary laws.

To be frank with ourselves, early marriage threatens the achievement of the first six goals respectively, eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primarily education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. In many villages child marriage is linked with poverty. This is because it affects particularly the poorest in the population, and helps to reinforce cycles of poverty. Early marriage is associated with high fertility. However, one reason for a poverty trap is a demographic trap, when impoverished families choose to have lots of children.

Women are at the heart of many societies. Regardless of whether they are working or not, mothers are very influential people in children’s lives. According to DFID (2005), educating girls is one of the most important investments that a country can make in its own future. Education has a profound effect on girls and women’s ability to claim other rights and achieve status in society, such as economic independence and political representation. Having an education can make an enormous difference to woman’s chances of finding well paid, raising a health family and preventing the spread of diseases such as HIV and AIDS. It’s quite unfortunate that they don’t know the consequences behind early marriage such as: domestic violence and sexual abuse, early child bearing and unwanted pregnancies, High maternal mortality and morbidity, increased risk of contracting STDs, lack of power, divorce or abandonment and Early Widowhood.

This paper examines the effects of early marriage on girl child education using Beguwa, Ringim local government as case study. Child marriage is an accepted cultural practice in many societies including near-by villages. It is still widely sanctioned, even though it is a violation of the human rights of young girls due to various motives. Early marriage can violate the rights of girls and boys, but it effect upon girls is far larger numbers and with more intensity. More emphasis has been given to girls as the experience for boys is, less likely to be exploitative or physically harmful as it is for girls.

Early marriage is intrinsically linked to low levels of education, high levels of violence and abuse, social isolation, severe health risks and harmful power dynamics and results in increased gender inequality and vulnerability to poverty for girls, young women, families and the society as a whole.

What can be done to reduce child marriage and improve schooling for girls? In many countries, laws have been adopted to prevent marriage below 18 years of age, but these laws are often not enforced. The laws are needed, but they are not enough. Interventions to reduce the cost of schooling for girls and the quality of the education available to them show more promise. Educating girls seems to be the ideal solution to tame early marriage of the girl child. Government and NGOs should provide support needed for girls’ education including free books, uniforms, scholarship and so on. I say a big thank you to the Ex Governor of Jigawa State Sule Lamido for making the cost of schooling in the state very low. But it is a pity the villagers are not making the absolute good use of it.

Other interventions, such as promoting education of girls, the availability of a secondary school nearby and public transportation to go to secondary schools that are further away may help, as can improvements in the quality of schooling so that the benefits for girls from enrolling are higher. Government should establish skill acquisition centres in case where the girls cannot benefit from formal education; they must be trained in different skills, according to their choice and the state of the market. It is however also important to emphasize that reframing the transition of girls to marriage requires a policy dialogue with religious and community leaders who have a great deal of influence on those issues. Meeting with these leaders to critically examine the causes and consequences of early marriage can help in building support for policies against child marriage.

Furthermore, government should try as much as possible to provide the basic social infrastructures/amenities for the masses to help them in the area of means of livelihood in order to reduce poverty which is the major cause of early marriage and to introduce a rural development program which will help in transformation of the communities.

Another alternative is to condition transfers on not getting married, with some programs suggesting positive impacts. Using mass media to increase the awareness of the whole community about the consequences of early marriage on girls themselves, their family and on the community as a whole. This will lead to the empowerment of girl child into skills for self-confidence, assertiveness, speaking out, decision- making and negotiation. Finally, all hands should be on deck to make sure that early marriage could be reduced if not eradicated in the society because it is not only girls’ child that suffers the implications but the society at large.

Child marriage is now a hidden crisis and is an issue that needs to be considered directly at high level in development policy.

DEDICATION: This article is dedicated to my respected fellow corps members in Beguwa village.