The new Child rights Legislations stipulate that having carnal
knowledge (sex) of a child below the age of 18 is a crime in twenty
– four (24) States of the federation and the Federal Capital
Territory. So would it mean that the age of consent is 18 in those
States and the Federal Capital? Not so. For this purpose, Akwa
Ibom and Kwara States specify 16years, whilst Jigawa State
specifies 15 years.
The traditional marriage
systems stipulate generally the age of 12 – 14 years for girls. In
some parts of Nigeria, the age is as low as 10 but there are other
constraints which prevent consummation of the marriage even if
the girl, her parents and the spouse’s parents have agreed.
Under Islamic Law/Sharia, marriage could be conducted by a mallam between a man and a 10 or 11, 12 year old girl, as we have seen recently. some of these “marriages” are really not marriages because the girl may have poor parents who would gladly give their 11 year old
daughter in marriage because they cannot feed the girl anymore.
A former governor, and now a Senator, who is reported to
have married a 13 year old girl from Nigeria and a 15 year old girl
from Egypt. Is he a pedophile? Apparently, not, because,
according to his religion, he married and divorced them legally.
Mohammed the Prophet married a 9 year old girl
and gave out his own ten year old daughter in marriage. It is also
well known that the Prophet also instructed that young girls should
be educated, and that marriage should never be at the expense of
education. In both cases, the nine year old and ten year old,
though married were made to have full education, and the
marriage was not consummated until his wife was eighteen years,
and his daughter was nineteen years!.
What the law in Nigeria says now is absurb. Any carnal
knowledge before 18 is a crime except where a marriage
(traditional or religions) has taken place in which case, no crime is
deemed to have been committed.
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