Under Marriage -Nigerian Children Speaks

Young Nigerians speak with TOPE
OMOGBOLAGUN on the controversial bill
which seeks to classify underage married
girls as adults
Education should come before marriage
"I think all children should be educated
before getting married. They should be of
adult age. They should be ask to speak for
themselves before they are committed to
another person that they want to get
married to. I think education is very
important in the life of children. Our girls
should be allowed to learn good things
about life before being rushed into early
marriage. A girl who marries at a young
age of 13 will have wrong views about life.
A girl should
learn from her parents so that
by the time she is mature to get married,
she will have enough understanding of
what she is going into. A girl who marries
at age 17 is not likely to get any benefit
from marriage but harm."

Sokoya Fikunmi, 10

It puts our lives in danger
"I have heard about the issue of underage
marriage being debated by our lawmakers
and I am happy that children are being
given the chance to speak on it. I am totally
against this kind of marriage because at
13, the girls are not even old enough to
give birth without danger to their lives.

Why should they get married at such a
young age most especially when they are
not mature enough to make a choice?

Mayowa, 12
Let girls grow up
"I haven't heard about the underage
marriage debate but as a young girl, I want
to become a lawyer in future. I don't want
to get married early because it won't allow
me to face my studies and besides that, I
am too young for it. I would love to get
married when I am about 25 years. I want
to grow up before getting married, so that
I can have a good marriage like my
parents."
Abisoye Zynab, 12
Marriage not for children
"My aim is to be a doctor but I cannot
achieve that if I get married so early. I
want to get married only when I grow up
like my parents. It will make me study very
well. Marriage is not for children so they
should not legalise underage marriage."

Hephzibah Adekunle, 6
Girls can't cope with marriage pressure
"I think children are too young to get
married. I have the dream to become a
doctor but getting married would disturb
me from achieving my dreams. Moreover, I
don't think that I have enough wisdom to
cope with being a wife. I don't even
understand what marriage is all about so I
don't think it is a reasonable thing to tell a
child like myself to get married. Even if I
get married now, I can't get pregnant and
have children until I get older. Children are
the gains of wedlock so why should I be
deprived of the same joy? I don't support
underage marriage."

Dorcas, 11
It will block our ambition
"I have been hearing about the underage
marriage issue, but I don't really have the
full details. But I don't want our girls to get
married early because it will cut short their
dreams in life. My ambition is to become an
astronaut and getting married at this
young age will be a major road block to
such dreams."

Adedoyin Ayodele, 9
Our legislators have failed us
"I don't want to be part of child marriage. I
am too young for that. My dream is to
become a lawyer, if I get married at this
age, I would achieve none of my dreams. If
I
do such a thing, my children will do the
same because they will think it is normal. It
simply means that our legislators are
misleading us. They have failed us as
children for ever thinking of such a thing. I
would like to get married after I am done
with my education and by then, I will no
longer be a child."
Onome Onojaife, 10
Editors note: Some of the parents of the
children asked that their surnames be left
out.

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