Dame Pauline Tallen, Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, has disclosed the plan of the ministry to sponsor a bill which is proposed to place a ban on early marriage and make girl-child elementary education mandatory.
Dame Tallen disclosed this at an interview with newsmen in Jos, Plateau State and according to her, President Buhari’s administration has made elementary education free and compulsory for Nigerian children, particularly for the girl child. She has a strong opinion that the solution to reducing early marriage of Nigerian girls is to ensure they go to school.
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She said:
“The Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development is sponsoring a bill at the National Assembly to ban early marriage among Nigerian girls, the bill shall also seek for the stoppage of violence against women and the girl child.”
“Even before my coming on board as the Minister of Women Affairs, primary and secondary education has been made free and compulsory; no child is expected to stay out of school.
“No girl child is expected to get married before completing her secondary education, which means no girl child should marry before the age of 18 years”.
Tallen associated the major challenges attacking the social well-being of womanhood in Nigeria to the issue of early child marriage.