Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, has come under heavy knocks from child rights advocates in Nigeria following his decision to assent a bill that approves underage marriage.
Masari has assented to the Child Protection Bill.
Chief Registrar of the Katsina State High Court, Kabir Shua’ibu, confirmed the development in an interview with reporters.
The development means although the Child Right Protection Bill defines a child as a person below the age of 18 and seeks to protect them from abuse, it will still not protect certain underaged persons from being married off.
Reacting to this, the Child Right Activists said the governor had sold out the children in the state under a poor condition.
They added that the bill assented will depict the country in a bad light in the international community.
Director of Stop the Abuse Foundation, Toyin Ndidi, expressed disappointment in Governor Masari.
According to her, “While men slept, the enemy sowed tares. Karl Marx opined that “religion is the opium of the masses”. I am no longer in doubt of this maxim. So, Governor Masari prefers that underage children get married because religion says or their parents’ wishes so? Until we stop being pussy footed about the rights of children, persons living with disabilities and human rights in general, we would not get it right in this country.
“My greatest pain is for the advocates who are fighting for the rights and protection of children in northern Nigeria, especially Katsina State.
“Thank you Governor El Rufai for showing through your laws on child protection that religion is about the protection of the vulnerable not for paedophiles.”
Meanwhile, Comrade Ebenezer Omejalile of Advocate for Children and Vulnerable Persons Network said that the law assented by the governor was evil inclined.
According to him, right groups in the country will embark on peaceful protest to put pressure on the governor to reverse the law.
“That was a great disappointment. I am surprised that this is coming from a governor who was a Speaker of the House of Representatives, a two time governor. If you don’t determine the age, then you are saying any age child can be married. This has rubbished the law. We say no to such. It is a jamboree law. We will now allow this. We will protest this. You cannot put the lives of the children at stake. The survival of the child is not considered. It is evil to have such a law in Nigeria,” he said.
The Founder of His Marvellous Grace Support Foundation, Dr Oluwadamisi Tayo Ladega, described the law as a disgrace to Nigeria.
“How will such a bill be signed by a governor? Are you saying the lives of the children do not matter in the society? I think the law needs a review and the right amendment should be done. You cannot give an underage child out in marriage. Where is that done in this part of the world? This will portray this country in a bad light at the international community,” she said.
Recall that Katsina State is one of the northern states affected by child marriages and street children (Almajiri) menace in the country.