17% of girls marry before age 15 in the Adamawa region

"The protection of children is a priority and the girl child has an important place in the actions of public authorities".

For this reason, the 25th Day of the African Child in the region of Adamawa was celebrated on June 16, on the theme: "25 years after the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child: accelerating our efforts to eliminate child marriages in Africa."

Here, 17% of girls are sent into marriage before their 15th birthday, against 6% of boys who are married before the age of 18.

In early marriages, these young ladies are exposed to violence, abuse and forced sex. The situation is further reinforced by the cultural era somehow muzzles these young wives giving discharge for their partners to exert all forms of violence on them.

The phenomenon is so widespread that the struggle against early marriage causes harm than good. Babba Ishagah, regional delegate of the Ministry of Social Affairs (Minas) for Adamawa admits that "in addition to the physical and psychological trauma on the girl-child, brides are almost always deprived of freedom to consent or refuse sexual relations and they cannot give their views on their reproductive rights especially since they have neither the upper hand nor the competence to negotiate sex or birth control."

For the regional delegation of the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and the Family, Asta Barka, she admits like her colleague that "the results of these actions are the stinking high birth rates, maternal, infant mortality, Obstetric fistula, premature births, stillbirths, a high rate of sexually transmitted diseases and domestic violence".

Faced with this phenomenon, the administrative authorities felt obliged to respond. The Governor of the Adamawa region has sounded the alarm at the ceremony which brought together children and the people. In his speech for the occasion, Abakar Ahamat bitterly lamented the high number of early marriages and bethrotal of young girls and boys for marriage which are allowed in some of our ethnocultural communities.

"I invite the civil and traditional authorities, the church and families to abandon forthwith the practices that undermine the physical and moral integrity of the girl and to work actively for the eradication of this phenomenon of the past," Abakar Ahamat educated.

The governor of Adamawa warned parents complicit in these acts, which according to him, the situation is not without consequences for the country's future but one of the solutions to eradicate the phenomenon is education.

"Education is one of the best weapons against early marriage and girls and boys discrimination," hinted in stride as a lady applauded what the governor said.

"Listening to these requirements as well as those responsible for social affairs and following a quality education, girls and boys can give better guidance to their fate and that of Cameroon."