Nigerian activists condemn mass 'forced marriages' of 100 girls and young women

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Nigerian activists condemn mass ‘forced marriages’ of 100 girls and young women

Petition launched to halt mass ceremony that organisers say is for 100 orphans whose parents were killed by gangs

Staff and agencies in Lagos
Thu 16 May 2024 19.44 BST
Last modified on Thu 16 May 2024 20.02 BST

Human rights activists in Nigeria have launched a petition to stop a plan to push 100 girls and young women into marriage in a mass ceremony, which has caused outrage in the west African country.

The plan, sponsored by Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, the speaker of the national assembly in the largely Muslim north-western state of Niger, were criticised by Nigeria’s women’s affairs minister, Uju Kennedy Ohanenye. She said she would seek a court injunction to stop the ceremony next week and establish if any of the girls were minors.

Sarkindaji said the girls and young women were orphans whose parents were killed in attacks by kidnapping gangs that roam northern Nigeria. He said he would pay dowries to the grooms.

A petition launched on Wednesday that has more than 8,000 signatures said the Niger state government should prioritise the education of the girls instead of forcing them into marriage.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/16/nigeria-activists-mass-forced-marriage-girls-young-women