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Hon. Justice Veronica Agboje, IAWJ Rising Leaders

Vulnerability of the Girl Child in Nigeria
By Veronica Agboje
Posted: 2024-01-08T17:02:16Z

Introduction

 

Judging by the prevailing numerous socio-economic vices, it will not be out of place to refer to the girl child in Nigeria as “endangered species”. To be useful to herself and society at large, the girl child needs constant mentoring, monitoring, and enlightenment regarding the right path to tow during her formative age. This is to enable her to grow properly and go through society with little or no negative impact. From birth to adolescence, until she comes of full age, the girl child faces numerous challenges within her immediate and larger environment.

 

The Challenges faced by the Girl Child

 

These challenges include but are not limited to lack of or inadequate formal education, early or forced marriage, early or unwanted pregnancy, rape, domestic labour, poor sanitation, insecurity, abduction, trafficking for prostitution etc. These challenges which the girl child faces are by-products of poverty, peer pressure, negligence, ignorance, neglect, and lack of or inadequate parental care during her formative ages. In addition to these challenges and depending on the level of enlightenment, belief or educational exposure of her parents, the girl child is also faced with the monster of genital mutilation. The girl child’s consent is never sought prior to mutilation of her genital. This is attributed to the fact that she is made to undergo the process of genital mutilation almost at the time of her birth; usually between zero to six months of age.

 

Here, attempt will be made to explore some of these challenges and how they negatively impact on the girl child in Nigeria. Going by the basic education statics in Nigeria released by UNICEF in June 2022, a whopping 7.6 million Nigerian girls are out of school. According to these statics, of this huge number, 3.9 million of the out of schoolgirls are at the primary school level while 3.7 million are at the junior secondary school level. To curb or drastically reduce this menace, some laws were passed, and regulations were made by the Nigerian government. One of such laws is the Compulsory Free Universal Basic Education Act[1]. By section 2 thereof, it is compulsory for every tie of government in Nigeria to provide free universal basic education for the child, including the girl child. The section makes it compulsory for every parent to send their child to primary and junior secondary schools at the least. The Child’s Right Act[2] and the Child Rights Law of Delta State[3] are other legislations passed to ensure that children obtain basic education. These Laws provide for the compulsoriness of basic education and attendance of the child, including the girl child, in primary and junior secondary schools. In addressing the menace of the number of the girl child out of school, some corporate organizations either working alone or in concert with some nongovernmental organizations in Nigeria, have made and are making noticeable and impactful efforts aimed at ensuring drastic reduction of the number of out of schoolgirls. Very recently[4] an indigenous bank in Nigeria, Polaris Bank Plc in partnership with Evolve Charity; a nonprofit organization drummed support for the education of the girl child in public schools with donation of educational materials to some schools in Lagos State. Apart from Lagos State, this gesture was extended by the Bank in partnership with another nonprofit organization; Pacegate Limited, to Kano and Imo States[5]. The Federal Ministry of Education in Nigeria is also not left out in this initiative. During the celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child on 11th October 2023, the Minister of State for Education; Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu said that in a bid to keep more girls in school, not less than three million girls in Borno, Ekiti, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi and Plateau States are benefitting from a project known as the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE). According to the state minister for Education, AGILE is a $500 million World Bank assisted project aimed at ensuring that the girl child in Nigeria is in school and empowered[6]. There are other initiatives and projects geared towards the education and enlightenment of the girl child in Nigeria. Ironically, it is alarming and of immense concern that in spite of the implementation of the provisions of the Compulsory Free Universal Basic Education Act as well as the several initiatives of government and private entities; the number of out of schoolgirls in Nigeria soared to a whooping 7.6 million according to UNICEF statics of June 2022!

 

Another challenge militating against the best and overall development of the girl child in Nigeria is early or forced marriage. It is not in contention that keeping a girl child in school is one of the best ways to delay marriage. Early marriage prevails in many Nigerian communities. Poverty, tradition, and religious belief play major role in early marriage of the girl child in Nigeria. Legislations have been put in place to checkmate the menace of early marriage of the girl child in Nigeria. Section 21 of the Child’s Right Act 2003 is to the effect that a girl under 18 years is not capable of contracting a valid marriage. The section makes such marriage; where contracted; null, void and of no effect. In the same vein, section 22 of the Act prohibits parents or guardians from betrothing a child and makes such betrothal; where done, null and void. By section 23 of the Act, it is a punishable offence where a person: (i) marries a child, (ii) a child is betrothed to him, (iii) promotes the marriage of a child or (iv) betroths a child. A child[7] is defined as a person under the age of fourteen while a young person is defined as someone who has attained the age of fourteen but under the age of seventeen. Similarly, section 277 of the Child’s Right Act defines a child as a person under the age of eighteen. Despite the existence of these laws; situations abound especially in the rural communities in Nigeria where girls under the age of eighteen are regularly given out in marriages. Lack of enlightenment and implementation of the provisions of these laws as well as poverty and religious belief play major role for early marriage of the girl child in Nigeria. Large numbers of girls are married off as second, third or fourth wives to men old enough to be either their father or grandfather. It is sad to note that the consent of the girl is never sought before she is given out in marriage. In the marriage arrangement, it is sufficient that the supposed husband has secured or sought the consent of the girl’s parents; usually, her father. The girl’s mother plays little or no role in the marriage arrangement. Her duty, if any, is limited to informing the girl child the marriage decision reached by girl’s father and larger family. More often, the girl is left with no option than to go on with the marriage because her parents have granted their consent to the union. The girl child goes into the marriage with no education or vocation and ends up as a liability to the society.

 

Apart from poverty, tradition, and religious belief as the major factor of early marriage of the girl child, insecurity, abduction and or kidnapping also play major role in the early or forced marriage of the girl child in Nigeria. There have been series of reports about the incessant spate of kidnappings of girls in Nigeria. There are series of terrorists’ groups or organizations operating unabated in Nigeria. The Jamaat Ahi As-Sunnah Lid-Da’wah Wa’l-Jihad otherwise known as the Boko Haram[8] and other terrorists’ groups in Nigeria and surrounding West African countries are responsible for these inhuman activities. The abduction of the girl child in Nigeria with the highest number of international condemnations occurred on April 14, 2014. On the said date, 276 girls of the Government Girls Secondary School Chibok, Borno State; Northeastern Nigeria were forcefully taken from their hostel to unknown location by the Boko Haram terrorists in the night when they were preparing for their West African School Leaving Certificate examinations. According to Amnesty International Report of April 14, 2023; nine years after the unfortunate abduction, 98 girls are still in the terrorist’s captivity. The Amnesty International reports have it that some of the kidnapped girls managed to escape from their abductors. It was further reported that some of the escapees came back with children whom they had for their abductors while in captivity. Many of these girls were forced into marriage against their will. The girls had amoral relationships with those who abducted them; thereby resulting in unplanned pregnancies. It is sad to note that before and after the April 14, 2014, abduction of the Chibok girls, there have been series of reports of abductions of girls and women by different terrorist bodies in Nigeria. Quite a number of these abductions remain unreported and there appears to be little or no efforts by successive governments in Nigeria to curb the menace of kidnapping of our girls and the continued violation of their fundamental rights by their abductors.

 

The Nigerian girl child is also exposed to rape which is often referred to as defilement or unlawful carnal knowledge. Section 218 of the Criminal Code Law of Delta State prescribes life imprisonment as punishment for the offence of unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under the age of eleven years. The offence of attempted unlawful carnal knowledge attracts fourteen years imprisonment. Where the victim is above eleven years but below the age of thirteen, the punishment for attempted unlawful carnal knowledge is two years imprisonment[9]. Section 225 of the Criminal Code Law of Delta State prohibits the abduction of a girl under the age of eighteen with intent to have unlawful carnal knowledge of her. In Onwuta v. State of Lagos[10], the Supreme Court held that a girl under the age of eleven is a child and she is not capable of consenting to sex. It was further held that a Court would hold that the girl did not consent to sex; even where it is established that she consented.

 

In a bid to curb the menace of defilement and unlawful carnal knowledge as well as shame offenders of these dastard acts on the girl child, some trial Courts and the Ministries of Justice in Nigeria now maintain Registers of convicted sexual offenders. The names and particulars of convicts of sexual offences are published and regularly updated and made available to the public.

 

Another challenge facing the girl child in Nigeria is sexual exploitation and trafficking for prostitution. A high percentage of girls and young women have been made to undertake perilous journeys from Nigeria to other parts of the world; especially to Europe, under the false belief or representation that they are travelling to Europe for ‘greener pasture’ and for the betterment of the girl and her family. As a result of the illegality involved in trafficking, large numbers of these journeys are undertaken by travels through the Mediterranean and Atlantic Oceans. A handful of these trafficked girls made it ashore but a larger number of them did not live to tell the story of their sojourn for ‘greener pastures’ through the Oceans and Seas. It is worth stating that some of the trafficked girls got stuck in other African countries as they did not make it to the promised Europe. Many of these girls in these African countries have taken to prostitution as means of survival while those who are modest got employed as domestic staff. I recall vividly sometime in 2020 and during the surge in the covid-19 pandemic, my immediate elder sister informed me that her fifteen years old daughter left home without notice. While we made efforts to search for her within the locality, my elder sister received a call from her daughter about a week after she left home informing her mother that she was in Burkina Faso, a West African country, en route to Europe. I must confess that the satiation was not funny for my family at that point. I considered my niece’s age and the ordeals she was passing through to survive. The poor young girl was only able to communicate with us through borrowed mobile phones and could not adequately explain her location in Burkina Faso to us. The situation was made worse as we could not get the name of her location from those people whose phones she used to communicate with us because of language barrier. Nigeria’s lingua franca is English Language while French is the official language in Burkina Faso. It took lots of efforts and resources on my part to get in touch with the Nigeria High Commission in Burkina Faso which graciously got across to the Nigerian communities in that country to track and bring her back home safe. When she got back, she informed us about how she was lured into the travel by a woman whose details she could not properly give. According to my niece, her ordeal in Burkina Faso was quite unpleasant giving her age and lack of financial resources. She went through the odds to survive while in Burkina Faso.

 

Unfortunately, trafficking in persons; especially the girl child is a thriving business in Nigeria. This is because it is a mean of livelihood for those who perpetrate this act. The legislation put in place to checkmate and criminalize trafficking in persons in Nigeria is the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act 2015. The Agency saddled with the implementation and prosecution of the provisions of this Act is the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP). The Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act[11] prohibits the trafficking in persons and using them for the purpose of prostitution and or sexual exploitation. The Act[12] also prohibits facilitation or promotion of foreign travels with intent to exploit for prostitution. Trafficking in persons is not limited to the procurement for prostitution. It is also for the purpose of forced labour and or for domestic work. The Act criminalizes forced labour and domestic work for a child[13].   

 

 

Checkmating the Menaces

 

In any of the situations highlighted above, the girl child is always at the receiving end because of her vulnerable nature. It is not sufficient to make legislation prohibiting these identified vices militating against the girl child. There is need to put machinery in place to ensure the implementation of the provisions of the various legislations protecting the girl child and, where appropriate, mete out commensurate sanctions to violators. To bring about the reduction in the number of the out of schoolgirls in Nigeria, there is need to make rules and regulations punishing parents and guardians for failure to enroll their children, especially the girl child, in primary and junior secondary schools, at the least. The provisions of the Child’s Right Act and the Child Rights Law of the various States in Nigeria should also be enforced to ensure that the girl child is not given out in marriage until she attains adulthood. There is need to create more awareness on the Sexual Offenders Registers in the States in Nigeria that have not adopted it. It is advised that all the Sexual Offenders Registers in Nigeria be harmonized and networked for ease of reference and obtaining information from it. The government of the day in Nigeria should make urgent efforts aimed at preventing the incessant abduction and consequent forceful marriage of the girl child by bandits and terrorists’ groups. The practice of mutilating a girl’s genital should be abolished and condemned in its entirety.

 

With the right approach and modalities in place, the truism that when you train the gild child, you train the nation will have its proper place in the life of the girl child in Nigeria.

 

 

Hon. Justice Veronica O. Agboje (Mrs.)

Judge, High Court of Delta State

Warri Judicial Division

Delta State, Nigeria.


[1] Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004

[2] Section 15 Child’s Right Act

[3] Section 15 of the Delta State Child Rights Law

[4] Business Day Online Publication of October 29, 2023

[5] Business Day Online Publication of November 23, 2023

[6] Premiumtimesng.com of October 11, 2023

[7] Section 2 of the Children and Young Persons Law of Delta State

[8] This is an Islamist militant organization in the north eastern Nigeria with belief that western education is forbidden; seeking to replace it with Islamic education based on strict compliance with Sharia law

[9] Section 221 of the Criminal Code Law of Delta State

[10] (2022) LPELR-57962(SC)

[11] Sections 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17

[12] Section 18

[13] Sections 22 and 23