Nigeria News
An Overview: The Senate And The Underage Marriage
By Ezebuike Temple
The news of the Nigerian Senate passing a law that supports underage marriages has taken to the social media like poking an anthill full of drunken, boisterous ants. Facebook, Twitter, BBM, Yahoo groups, e-mail inboxes, cell phones, and everything but the kitchen sink have all been stuffed with this news, and petitions (to the United Nations and Human Rights Organisations) requiring one to sign in on. This particularly, had a common touch that turned everybody on. I posted a couple of ChildNotBride bits on my BBM, and Facebook account. To me, and so many others, it was a nice bit of crackling, the girl (or the boy) child had been beastly kicked in the shin, so we had to do something. I continued on with the ChildNotBride march (without adequately checking-up the root cause) until… a colleague of mine got me on in the flip side.
Scott Prestwich Charles, a renowned British journalist, submitted many odd years ago that, “comment is free but facts are sacred”. This lights up that before one exercises his freedom of expression, he must get his facts straight-up. Maybe I didn’t adequately straighten-up my facts before I indulged in the popular march, but I believe I did now, before writing this article.
Now, to comment on the present coup de main on the Nigerian Senate, I shall first, state the facts as it was reported, since every logical public discourse must begin with its facts.
The Senate has for a while now embarked on the amendment of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended (hereinafter referred to as the Constitution). The Senate’s Constitutional Review Committee led by Senator Ike Ekweremadu had considered various parts of the Constitution for amendment, which included the terms of office of elected officers, autonomy of the local government, et al. Last week, the Senate considered for amendment certain provisions of sections 26 to 32 of the Constitution, which are entrenched in Chapter III of the Constitution, and which deals with Citizenship. In one of its numerous recommendations, it, the Constitutional Review Committee, proposed the deletion of section 29 subsection 4(b) of the Constitution, which deals with the renunciation of citizenship.
The whole of section 29 is reproduced hereunder.
29 (1) Any citizen of Nigeria of full age who wishes to renounce his Nigerian citizenship shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation.
(2) The president shall cause the declaration made under subsection (1) of this section to be registered and upon such registration, the person who made the declaration shall cease to be citizen of Nigeria.
(3) The president may withhold the registration of any declaration made under subsection (1) of this section if:
(a) the declaration is made during any war in which Nigeria is physically involved; or
(b) in his opinion, it is otherwise contrary to public policy.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section:
(a) “full age” means the age of eighteen years and above;
(b) any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age.
From the afore-listed, section 29 (4)(a) and (b) provide for the purposes of subsection (1): (4)(a) “full age” means the age of eighteen and above; (4)(b) any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age. As earlier reported, the Senate voted to remove the latter, that is, section 29(4)(b), and the vote, which was taken and carried by the required two-thirds members of the Senate (73 of 109) was successful, in favour of the removal. But Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima (ANPP — Zamfara West) raised an objection on the ground that the removal of the provision was “un-Islamic”, citing Part 1, Item 61, Second Schedule (Exclusive Legislative List) of the Constitution, which directs the National Assembly to steer away from Islamic marriages. It states, “formulation, annulment and dissolution of marriages other than marriages under Islamic Law and Customary Law, including matrimonial clauses relating thereto”. Yerima insisted on fresh votes which the Senate president, David Mark, turned down sparking a trade of words between the duo. Senator Danjuma Goje (Gombe) later joined the protest. When the peace of the House seemed threatened, David Mark conceded, and asked that the vote be taken again. At the repeat vote, Yerima’s demand was voted out (60 to 35), but the section could not be deleted as constitutional amendments require two-thirds (78 members) of the 109 member Senate for a proposal to pass.
Before I make my comments and deductions, there arises the need to state;
(i) That the Senate does not have absolute power in constitutional amendment. Section 9(2) of the Constitution provides, “An Act of the National Assembly for the alteration of this Constitution…shall not be passed in either House of the National Assembly unless the proposal is supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds majority of all the members of that House and approved by the resolution of the House of Assembly of not less than two-thirds of all the states. This proviso as stated, is to dismiss the news-spread claiming the law passed by the Senate is final.
(ii) That the Child’s Rights Act, which was passed into law in July 2003, which by virtue of section 12 of the Constitution is the domestication of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1981, is the foundational law today, recognised by the constitution, as relating to Child’s Rights in Nigeria.
(iii) That section 277 of the Act defines a child as anyone below 18 years of age, and sections 21 and 22 of the same Act criminalises marriages to persons below 18, imposing a punishment of N500,000 and a 5-year jail term.
(iv) That the Act is supreme in all matters relating to children except in relation to express provision of the Constitution, which is the supreme law, whence other laws derive their validity.
Howbeit, due to the Federal outlook of the country, and due to the fact that most of the matters relating to children are under Concurrent Legislative List, the Houses of each state must pass it into law. As at today, twenty-four (24) states have passed the Act into state laws. The twelve (12) states remaining are; Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Kebbi, Borno, Yobe, Gombe, Adamawa, Bauchi, Kastina, and Zamfara. Besides Enugu, it can be deduced that the rest are core northern states.
Now, my submission:
Section 29 falls under Chapter III of the Constitution, which entirely deals with Citizenship, and has been in existence since the commencement of the Constitution on May 29th, 1999.
The section in contention, that has caused the present onslaught on the Senate, is section 29(4)(a) and (b).
Section 29(4) CLEARLY states: “for the purposes of subsection 1” Section 29 subsection (1) CLEARLY states: “any citizen of Nigeria of full age WHO WISHES TO RENOUNCE HIS NIGERIA CITIZENSHIP shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation”
Subsection (1) CLEARLY defines the circumstances under which the definitions stated in clauses (a) and (b) would be applicable.
Section 29 (4) (a) CLEARLY states: “full age” means the age of eighteen years and above. This proviso, simply re-emphasises that “full age” shall be 18.
To the cardinal section in contention, Section 29(4)(b) CLEARLY states: “any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age”
In looking into the minds of the drafters, the spirit behind this proviso is that, if you are married, for the purposes of renunciation of citizenship, you shall be automatically qualified to do so even if you are not eighteen (18) yet, as in the eyes of the law, you are deemed to be of “full age”. This proviso is CLEARLY unambiguous and WHOLLY refers to the already MARRIED (who seeks security in another country or her country of birth), and not the ABOUT-TO-MARRY (whence the news-spread of child marriage wrongly emanated).
The contentious provisions of section 29(4)(a) and (b) deal with the renunciation of citizenship and not child’s rights or child marriageable age (as this is already tackled by the Child Rights Act 2003).
Ultimately, in my simple opinion, I do not think the removal of the contentious section 29(4)(b) will put an end to underage marriages in Nigeria, as I believe the instrument to challenge by proponents in the life of a child is not section 29(4)(b), or some certified heteroclite like the Yerimas, but for the fierce push of the passing of the Child Rights Act into laws by the states which are yet to do so, and agitation for the amendment of the Second Schedule, Part 1, Item 61 of the Constitution, which precludes the National Assembly from legislating on marriages under Islamic Laws.
•Temple, a writer, and a law student, in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, wrote this article from Enugu State.
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Source: PM News
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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.
The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.
Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.
Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.
Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.
Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.
In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.
Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.
Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.
However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.
Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.
Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria
By Ugochukwu Alaribe
Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The market women, said to be from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.
Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.
A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.
Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.
Sourced From: Vanguard News
Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole
The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.
Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.
He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid in January 2020.
‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.
She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.
He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.
The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.
Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.
He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’
He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.
Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.
Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend.
He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart.
Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.
The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”
The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad, saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts. This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose.
Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them.
Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter.
“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said.
Sourced From: Tribune
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Military, Police Ring Abuja to Forestall Boko Haram Attack
UFC: Usman gets N584m after beating Masvidal
Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings
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