Amnesty International has said that poverty and old social attitudes are taking many Nigerian girls out of school and into early marriage.
The rights group made the claim at a programme it organised in Yola for the 2026 International Day of the Girl Child.
Dooshima Tsee, Amnesty International Nigeria’s Media and Communications Manager, said Nigeria has the highest case of girl child marriage in the world. She said families often marry off their daughters because of money problems.
Parents with few options
Tsee said poverty is one of the main reasons for the practice. It happens most when parents cannot pay to keep their daughters in school.
She said some parents see child marriage as one of the few choices open to them in hard times. She said governments and other groups should improve support services for poor families.
Tsee said the situation worries Amnesty because many girls cannot finish school. This limits their chance to develop their talents and take full part in society.
Knowing rights, knowing where to go
Tsee said the programme does two things. It teaches girls their rights, and it shows them where to seek help when those rights are broken. She said human rights groups and law enforcement agencies cannot watch what happens inside every home.
She asked governments to make reporting and support systems easier to reach at the grassroots, meaning at the local level. Girls and families, she said, should know who to approach when they face child marriage, sexual harassment, discrimination or other abuses of their rights.
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Rubecca Malgwi, an Amnesty facilitator, said girls still face unfair treatment in several areas of life. These include education, household duties, safety, freedom of expression and access to menstrual hygiene, which means managing their periods in a clean way.
Malgwi said these everyday experiences often decide whether a girl can stay in school. She said the programme helps girls understand that they have the right to education, protection, expression and fair treatment.
Students from different schools also took part in the event. They asked the government to persuade parents to stop forcing girls into early marriage.
The students said girls have dreams of their own. They said “a girl is supposed to have ambition and dreams that are bigger than marriage.”
They also said an educated girl could become an educated mother, able to educate a whole family.
WHAT READERS SHOULD KNOW
Amnesty named child marriage, sexual harassment and discrimination as examples of rights abuses that girls and families should report.
Malgwi said housework, safety and access to menstrual hygiene can decide whether a girl stays in school.
The claim that Nigeria has the highest case of girl child marriage in the world came from Tsee, an Amnesty official.
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