Niger’s high rate of young girls getting married even before they are teenagers has been a result of poverty, a lack of resources, and a general mistreatment of women in the nation overall. As one of the world’s poorest nations, it also owns the dubious distinction of having the world’s highest birth rate.
SEE ALSO: Igbo Nation Biafra Seceded From Nigeria On This Day In 1967
BBC News launched an investigative report in to the developments in Niger, revealing the level of despair that leads to families selling their girls in to marriage for money and for practical reasons. In the desert north of the country, Tuareg girls were reportedly sold in to marriage to wealthy men in Nigeria for thousands. The more beautiful the men found the girls, the more they would pay. For some single Mothers, selling their children into marriage has simply become a means of survival.
As reported by the BBC:
About 24 percent of girls will be married by the time they are 15. That rises to nearly 80 percent by the age of 18. It is a social phenomenon that affects all significant ethnic groups in Niger, including the majority Hausa community.
The main reason is economic.
Hard-pressed families receive a “bride price” in return for their daughter’s hand in marriage. A girl married off is also one less mouth to feed.
And there is a deep-rooted fear of unmarried teenaged girls falling pregnant, or as one mother put it: “They can easily become delinquents.”
One young woman is now 21 and studying to become a nurse escaped from her controlling Nigerian husband who essentially kept her as a sex slave. There is also a rise in fistula, a medical condition that affects young girls who have babies before their bodies reach full maturity. An Islamic leader in the country said that by his religion’s law, a girl young as 9 can be married off.
SEE ALSO: Grassroots Organization Stands Up for Nigeria’s Youth By Saying Enough Is Enough
Anthony Madu, the 14-year-old Nigerian dancer from Lagos who gained admission to a prestigious ballet…
Actor-host Wayne Brady recently opened up about his early financial struggles in his now thriving…
Mia Arianna, also known as @mia.ariannaa on TikTok, helped her son become an honorary team…
Alvin Gauthier, a Grand Prairie USPS postman, recently went above and beyond to brighten a…
Maj. Gen. Fatuma Gaiti Ahmed is the first female commander of the air force and…
Benjamin E. Mays High School brought together its 272 senior class members for a meeting…
Afrika Owes' emotional response to learning that she had passed the bar exam on her…
A 49-year-old New York attorney was on April 26 sentenced to 10 years in federal…
During an appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show on Wednesday, pop legend Cher opened up…
Authorities in Florida said an 11-year-old boy was accidentally shot and killed by his 14-year-old…
The famous Taylor Schlitz family is making headlines once more as the youngest of the…
Sony Pictures Entertainment has appointed Tahra Grant as its Chief Communications Officer. She replaces Robert…
Meet Ashley M. Fox, the founder of Empify and the first in her family to…
Tyra Banks, the iconic former host of Dancing With the Stars, has made a delightful…
A Brazilian woman named Érika de Souza, 42, is under investigation for manslaughter after authorities…