According to the UN National Information Officer, Dr Seyi Soremekun, the UN Women Africa in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund and United Nations Children’s Fund had made a strategic choice of placing the engagement of African traditional authorities central to addressing the cultural norms and practices harmful to women and girls’ well-being.
To this effect, the UN Women explained that it had launched series of regional consultations with traditional rulers and institutions to address the challenging issues as well as facilitate a framework for the African Union summit with traditional and cultural authorities on ending child marriage and the Federal Government taking place in January 2019.
The group said millions of women and girls were subjected to harmful practices including child marriage across the African continent, noting that if the trends continued in the next decade, 14.2 million girls under the age of 18 would be married every year.
“In West and Central Africa, the region with the highest prevalence of child marriage, the practice continues unabated with progress registered in reversing the trend at its slowest and lowest in the world.
“Countries such as Niger, Chad and Central African Republic are currently peaked at 76, 72 and 68 per cent, respectively and rated as having the highest prevalence in the world.”
“The region is also home to six of the 10 countries globally with the highest prevalence rate of child marriage: Niger, Central African Republic, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea.
“While Niger has the highest prevalence of child marriage in the world, at 76 per cent, Nigeria is home to the largest number of child brides in Africa, with 23 million girls and women married off in childhood,” the group stated
The organisation expressed concern that that by 2050, the number of children married before the age of 18 would double if no fundamental change aimed at reversing the trend was made.
In recognition of the need to curb the practices and protect the health and well-being of women and girls of Africa, the UN Women stated that it had identified ending child marriage in Africa as one of its three cross-regional programmes within its Africa Strategy 2018 – 2021.
from tvc
Is it just that? Even child prostitution is increasing in Nigeria. Nigerians are regressing in their way of life.
ReplyDeleteWhy won't Nigeria have the highest child marriage/brides rate when the country is filled with people who values stupid customs, tradition and illicit doctrines of religion more that justice,equity and fairness.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to believe this, what happens o Yemen, Oman, India and Pakistan that marry off kids less than 10yrs, at least our Northern sisters still attain tenage age.
ReplyDeleteDon't mine them. Believe everything you read at your own peril. NGOs and ministries seeking for foreign donations are not helping matters, they make exaggerated claims with bogus statistics to get more money.
DeleteThese pple r liars
ReplyDeleteThis can't be
ReplyDeleteRetrogressive and regressive pipo on every economic/meaningful data. Even when a woman escapes child marriage, and thinks she's gotten away from the grips of these myopic, narcissistic, Godforsaken and evil Naija men, lo and behold: they gang up, as the cowards that they are, against hardworking, ambitious, intelligent, qualified and courageous women. How? Blackmail, extortion, insisting women sleep with them before getting a job. Shithole pipo.
ReplyDelete