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The Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi, has advocated a ban on marriage of women below 18 years, saying most of the women suffering from reproductive health challenges were products of such marriages.
The emir spoke at a workshop organised by the Northern Islamic Forum in Kano on Tuesday and said time had come when the Muslim community should live by the reality of economic recession and consequences of early marriage.
The emir recounted that in the past the rich and the poor married four wives and bore between 30 and 40 children because the economy was not only buoyant but also because people were not relying on government for sustenance.
He said though the harsh economic realities now make it impossible for people to feed twice a day these days, “unfortunately our people do not change and somebody with virtually nothing still gives birth to 20 or 30 children and this must stop”.
According to him, the marriage age in Egypt at present was 18 while that of Malaysia and Morocco were 19 and 17 respectively, asking “why not we here urgently call for pegging of marriage ages within Muslim Umma in Nigeria?”
He argued that since Nigeria Muslims also practice the Malikiys School of thought as these countries, “we should follow suit and peg our own marriage ages for our own good”.
Mr. Sanusi called on the relevant authorities to create a law that would punish anybody that gave birth to children and allowed them to suffer.
Source: Premium Times
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