Early marriage: Day children took to the streets

HUNDREDS of underage children  in Ogun State recently  embarked on a protest against the Senate endorsed controversial child marriage bill, vowing  to go on hunger strike if the lawmakers failed to retrace their steps and jettison the idea.

Leading her colleagues drawn from different parts of the state, 13-year-old Pascalyne Ogbuli, submitted thus: “We do not wish to grow up and tell our young daughters that we were forced into early marriage and that same fate awaited them because there is a law that supports it.

“It is shameful that the Senate with people that children respect and aspire to be like, could even consider a law saying our childhood and innocence could be taken away, and education destroyed in exchange for a bride price, and that   we (kids) could be sold as slaves to early marriage.

*Some of the children addressing a press conference after the protest

“To this end, we, the Nigerian children, demand a national apology from the Nigerian Senate for belittling our child right and wilfully deliberating and considering the stamping of early marriage in Nigeria. And if we die telling our leaders that our education and our future count more than an early marriage, so be it”. Pascalyne spoke on behalf of other children during a press conference they addressed in Abeokuta under the banner of Volunteer Team of Children.

As  part of their war against child marriage, the children said they  have produced a film titled, ‘Yerima: Diary of a Child’ which will  be shown  throughout the country to express their opposition and expose the danger of early marriage.

According  to Pascalyne: “It was during the making of the film against early child marriage that many of  us  realised the cruelty of early child marriage and its humiliating impact and consequences on children, especially the girl-child”.

Producer of the film, Femi Olabode-George, who doubles as Chairman, UTV Media, informed that it was not easy producing the film. According to him, 35 children participated in the production, adding that he took up the challenge to embark on the project when contacted by volunteer artistes led by Mrs Omowunmi Freeman

He disclosed  that the 82 minutes film will premiere soon  in Abeokuta, before onward transmission to all other parts of the country. He called on parents, guardians, children and other stakeholders to come out en masse to watch the film.