A 16-year-old junior secondary school dropout, (name withheld) says she chose marriage over staying at home when presented with the options by her parents.

She disclosed this in an exclusive interview with PUNCH Online on Saturday during a media dialogue organised by the PAGED Initiative in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

The teenager explained that she was not coerced into the union, but maintained that the economic reality affecting her parents made her realise that remaining at home would not yield any positive growth in her life.

“I went to school until JSS 3. I had to drop out after my Junior WAEC because a demolition by the state government caused my family to relocate to Mule in Maiduguri. My father is a mechanic. His shop in the Borno Expressway area was demolished when the state government decided to build a flyover,” she said.

According to her, the demolition plunged the family into hardship, forcing her to drop out after the Junior Secondary School examination.

“That demolition really affected our living conditions because work was not forthcoming for him. I could not continue my education as well. Three months after the incident, he got me married when I was 16 years old.

“I was not forced to get married. I was only given two options, which were either to stay at home and not go to school or to get married. I chose marriage,” she stated.

She further added that part of the marriage agreement was that she would be enrolled in school.

“The man actually promised to return me to school, but after the marriage, he has yet to have the means to return me to school. We have been married for six months now,” she said.

She, however, expressed a desire to return to school and become a medical doctor in the future.

“I have been bothered and wished to return to school, but then, where are the means? My wish is to become a doctor.

“However, I am very sure that if my husband had the means, he would take me to school because he values education,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Programme Director of the PAGED Initiative, Umi Bukar, said such stories were common in Northern Nigeria and advocated stronger laws that would compel every child to complete secondary school.

“A lot of girls are going through the same thing where they are given options between dropping out of school and marriage, and some do not even have an option,” she said.

“Parents often cite school fees or the cost of transportation as the reason why their children cannot remain in school. But the truth is that most of these things are priority issues,” she stressed.

Bukar added, “When you look at it, the cost of marrying a girl off is high. The money to buy a bed alone for her can see her through secondary school. We need strong laws that will protect girls’ education in such a way that girls should be made to complete at least their secondary school education.”

She further called on the government to provide more schools in rural communities to increase attendance and ease accessibility.

“As it stands right now, Universal Basic Education is compulsory for every child, but it is not enforced. Technically today, if a girl is taken out of school after JSS 3, it is unclear which law has been broken. But if you extend Universal Basic Education to cover up to SS 3, then we will know that, under the law, it is illegal for parents to remove their children from school and marry them off.

“Secondly, the government should not only concentrate on building schools in popular or developed areas. Rural communities also need schools so that children or girls in those areas will not have to travel long distances to school, thereby discouraging attendance,” she noted. (The PUNCH)

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