Nigeria

44% of girls in Nigeria are married before

their 18th birthday and 18% are married
before the age of 15.
According to UNICEF, Nigeria has the third
highest absolute number of child brides in
the world – 3,538,000 – and the 11th highest
prevalence rate of child marriage globally.

Child marriage is most common in the North

West and North East of Nigeria, where 68%
and 57% of women aged 20-49 were married
before their 18th birthday. Child marriage is
particularly common among Nigeria’s
poorest, rural households and the Hausa
ethnic group.
A 2017 World Bank study estimates that child
marriage costs Nigeria USD7.6 billion in lost
earnings and productivity every year.

In Nigeria, child marriage is also driven by:

• Level of education: 73% of Nigerian women
with no formal education were married
before 18, compared to only 9% who had
completed higher education. Further
education is almost impossible for some
girls, who have little choice but to depend
 on their husbands for the rest of their
lives.
• Political and economic ties: Some girls are
married off by their parents to enhance
political and social alliances with rich
families or business partners and to
improve their economic status.
• Gender norms: Some Nigerian men
reportedly prefer to marry children. Girls
are not accepted as equal partners within
marriages, which contributes to a sense
of low self-worth. A 2004 study shows
that domestic violence is more common
among marriages involving young girls in
Nigeria.
• Violence against girls: The abduction of 276
Chibok girls in 2014 was just one instance
of a disturbing tactic used by Boko Haram
– child marriage as a weapon of war.
Christian and Muslim girls have been
kidnapped and married off by Boko Haram
in an attempt to dismantle communities
and attract male recruits who are
awarded “wives” if they fight. Some
parents have been killed for refusing to
marry off their daughters.
• Poverty: The humanitarian crisis in North
Eastern Nigeria left more than two million
people displaced since 2016. Families
 facing extreme famine and living in
refugee camps sometimes marry off their
daughters because they lack alternative
survival options.

Nigeria has committed to eliminate child,

early and forced marriage by 2030 in line
with target 5.3 of the Sustainable
Development Goals.

the government noted that most states in the

North of the country manage a cash transfer
programme aimed at reducing girls’ school
dropout rates due to early marriage.
Nigeria signed a joint statement at the 2014
Human Rights Council calling for a resolution
on child marriage.

Nigeria ratified the Convention on the Rights

of the Child in 1991, which sets a minimum
age of marriage of 18, and the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW) in 1985, which
obligates states to ensure free and full
consent to marriage.
In 2016, Nigeria launched the African Union
Campaign to End Child Marriage in Africa.
In 2001 Nigeria ratified the African Charter
on the Rights and Welfare of the Child,
including Article 21 regarding the prohibition
of child marriage.
In 2004 Nigeria ratified the African Charter
on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights
of Women in Africa, including Article 6 which
sets the minimum age for marriage as 18.

In 2016 the Ministry of Women Affairs and

Social Development launched a National
Strategy to End Child Marriage. The
strategy’s vision is to reduce child marriage
by 40% by 2020 and end the practice entirely
by 2030.
A Technical Working Group on Ending Child
Marriage was formed at the end of 2015. The
Group is composed of over 30 members,
including UN agencies and Girls Not Brides
members, and aims to raise awareness,
encourage behaviour change and monitor and
evaluate laws and policies.

Worldwide, as many as 650 million women

alive today married before they turned 18.
Child marriage sets them up for a life of
hardship — they are less likely than their
peers to stay in school and more likely to
become victims of domestic violence.

Only 23 states of the 36 Nigeria states have

begin to taken steps to implement the
minimum age of marriage.