CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Most people’s life revolve on three major events: birth, marriage, and death. However, only one’marriage’ is a choice. Even in Roman times, the freedom to make that decision was recognized as a legal concept, and it has long been enshrined in international human rights treaties. Despite this, many girls and a lesser number of boys marry without having the opportunity to exercise their freedom to choose. Some people are compelled to marry at a young age. Others are just too young to make an educated choice regarding their marital partner or the consequences of marriage. They may have granted what passes for “permission” in the eyes of custom or law, but assent to their legally binding relationship was given on their behalf by others.
Even though a girl is just 12, it is assumed that once she marries, she has become a woman. Similarly, if a boy is forced to marry, he is now a man and must put aside his childhood possessions. While the average age of marriage is increasing, early marriage — the marriage of minors and adolescents under the age of 18 – is still common. While early marriage can take numerous shapes and have a variety of causes, one problem is critical. Early marriage, whether it occurs to a girl or a boy, is a violation of human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948 and many later human rights agreements acknowledge the right to free and informed consent to marriage — consent that cannot be “free and informed” when at least one spouse is immature. Early marriage has substantial physical, intellectual, psychological, and emotional consequences for both girls and boys, cutting off educational opportunities and opportunities for personal growth.
In addition, for girls, it will almost inevitably result in early pregnancy and motherhood, as well as a lifetime of domestic and sexual servitude over which they have little choice (Eboh, 1996).
The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEFADW), the 1989 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the 1990 African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Women are among the international human rights charters and conventions that prohibit early marriage before the age of 18. Many teenage girls in undeveloped nations, on the other hand, see marriage as a way to secure their future and protect themselves. Families drive girls into marriage when they are still young in the hopes that marriage will benefit them financially and socially. Early marriage, on the other hand, violates children’s rights, and has far more harmful implications for females than for boys. This jeopardizes their total development, leaving them socially isolated with little or no education, skills, or work options, as well as limited opportunities for self-realization. Married girls are more vulnerable to poverty as a result of these circumstances. Young married females are a distinct category, with significant strain on a variety of fronts. They are expected to perform an excessive number of household duties, which includes new roles and obligations as spouses and mothers. The young bride’s position in the family is usually predicated on her establishing her fertility—often within the first year of her marriage, when she is physically, mentally, and emotionally unprepared. Furthermore, while still children, females are expected to be accountable for the care and wellbeing of future generations. Young women with limited decision-making authority, mobility, and financial resources are more likely to pass on their vulnerability to their children. As a result, early marriage exacerbates the ‘feminization of poverty’ as well as intergenerational poverty (Saxena, Shobha, 1999). Several studies have found significant age disparities between younger married women and their husbands. This age difference plainly establishes an uneven power dynamic between the younger bride and her older and more experienced husband, with the husband having complete control over sexual encounters and decision-making. Younger women are often unable to utilize contraception or plan their kids since they are socially conditioned not to dispute their husbands’ authority. The combination of these characteristics may lead to younger brides being more tolerant of relationship abuse.
While there is considerable consensus that early marriage, pregnancy, and motherhood have negative effects on girls’ general development and schooling, the linkages to poverty and the wide-ranging impacts on families and communities have not been properly investigated. This is due in part to the ‘invisibility’ of younger married females in most cultures, as well as the fact that marriage grants girls and boys adult status (Bruce, 2002).
Despite this, many communities, particularly in Africa and South Asia, continue to believe that females should marry when they reach puberty or shortly thereafter. Their wives are usually a few years older than they are, although they may be twice their age. Parents and family leaders make marriage decisions for their daughters and sons with little consideration for the human consequences. Rather, many see marriage as a method to start a family, an economic arrangement, or a mechanism to keep females safe from unwanted sexual approaches.
Meanwhile, while custom and culture support the idea of early marriage, the Nigerian constitution of 1999 is quiet on the subject, albeit it is indicated by section 29 that the partners to a marriage must be of legal age. ‘Any woman who is married is regarded to be of full age,’ according to Article 29(4)(a). On the other hand, paragraph (4)(a) defined “full age” as being eighteen years or older.
Consequently, notwithstanding that portion of the Nigerian constitution, early marriage remains an issue in the majority of Nigeria, as well as many other African and international countries. Tradition, culture, and religion are used to justify and justify it. That is why certain people, like as Alh. Ahmed Sani Yerima Bakura, the former governor of Zamfara state, and Mmerole Ogha, Mgbeoye’s husband, married 13 and 9-year-old girls, respectively. Young girls in rural locations, impoverished, and underprivileged communities are particularly vulnerable. This condition reflects the intense commitment to tradition as well as the dearth of options that women in rural communities face. Early marriage stretches back to the development of society in Nigeria in general, and among Northerners (Hausas) in particular. It is not unusual for girls under the age of 12 to marry in that region of the nation, and it is well beyond what is expected in other sections of the country. According to the National Baseline Survey of Positive and Harmful Traditional Practices Affecting Women and Girls in Nigeria, the average age of female children at marriage is 16.7 years. The average age in the north-east is 15.2 years, whereas in the north-west it is 14.2 years. This is a measure of how common early marriage is in Nigeria (Shehu, 2002).
