Girl-child activists have called for concerted efforts to end early marriage in the country particularly in the northern states.
They made the call during their end of project dissemination and experience sharing workshop in Abuja.
The activists comprised of nongovernmental organisations worked on a project tagged “Building collaboration, partnerships and political commitment to delay early marriage and child bearing in Northern Nigeria.”
The development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC) supported a consortium of four indigenous NGOs to carry out the project in Kaduna and Kano, funded by the Ford Foundation and anchored by ActionAid Nigeria.
While sharing their experiences and findings, they said girl-child education was key in delaying early marriages in northern Nigeria, and there was need for mass campaign for the promotion of female education. They also said there was need to re-orientate the perception of some parents particularly in rural areas that erroneously believe female education is anti-religious.
Explaining some of the findings, Coordinator of the project and director dRPC, Judith-Ann Walker said the key findings include the fact that NGOs working in advocating on right to education laws spaces are most effective when they mobilize traditional and religious stakeholders to engage government.
Programme Officer, dRPC, Mr Umar Ahmed, said if more girls and their parents are sensitised enough to attend and complete secondary education, that would substantially delay their marriages with overall health benefits.
