EMIR of Kano Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi has expressed his opposition to the menace of child marriages in Nigeria urging the government to fix the age of wedlock as is done in other developing nations.
Nigeria is notorious for under-age marriages with young girls, some even pre-teens, being married off to full grown men. In northern Nigeria in particular, child marriages are a common phenomenon as cultural and religious practices permit this and parents themselves are happy to give their young daughters away.
Addressing a conference of Northern Muslims Religious Leaders Forum on Primary Health Care in Kano, the former Central Bank of Nigeria governor explained that the reproductive health challenges associated with such practice is enough to discouraged the age long tradition. Emir said that Nigeria Muslims are ardent followers of Maliki school of thought like Morocco, Malaysia and Egypt, who have all pegged the marriage age.
Emir Sanusi said: "I believe the time is ripe to take a stand on this age long practice of early marriage and coincidentally we subscribed to Malikiyya school of thought like Morocco, Malaysia and Egypt who had since pegged marriage age to 17, 19 and 18 respectively. Most of those who engage in this practice do not have the necessary economic power to support himself."
In addition, the emir stated that the role of a woman as a housewife are numerous and highly demanding, as he further stressed the need to allowed our women to attained maturity status before marriage. Emir Sanusi, explained in the past, cities like Kano, Katsina, Aghadez, and Timbuktu held economic power of the Sahel region and this economic prospect had since shifted to coastal cities around the globe.
Commenting on wife battery, the emir said that Islam abhors assaults on women and he enjoined those involved in the act to desist from such practice. Emir Sanusi disclosed that he does not expect his in-law to lay his hand on his daughter and would urge her to retaliate any form of assault from her husband.
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