EARLY CHILD MARRIAGE IN NIGERIA CAUSES, EFFECTS AND REMEDIES

Abstract

This paper examines early child marriage; it looked at the causes, effects and remedies in Nigeria. It examines the concept of early marriage and trends of early child marriage. The paper also present and discuss the adverse effects of early child marriages: viz, psychological and mental stress, lack of personal development and contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), which is prevalent in our today’s society. The paper concludes by recommending that the objectives of sustainable development goals in the (SDGs), Beijing conference on women and empowerment among others be upheld by stakeholders. The paper further recommended for total abolition of early child marriages in Nigeria and encourages the government, community leaders and the entire populace to join hands to ensure the root causes of early child marriage is drastically reduced. It further recommended that there should be effective information dissemination to grass root level. The paper concludes that government is expected to encourage human right watch to help put an end to the practice of early child marriage in Nigeria today.