Nigeria: Ezekwesili Urges FG, States to Enforce 18-Year Minimum Marriage Age

What the report says

Obiageli Ezekwesili, Nigeria’s former education minister and founder of Human Capital Africa, is urging the Federal Government and state governments to fully enforce 18 years as the legal minimum marriage age nationwide. In a statement published by Vanguard and distributed by AllAfrica, she said child marriage continues to damage girls’ education and weaken the country’s long-term human capital development.

Ezekwesili tied the appeal to the 2026 International Day of the Girl Child and called on African governments to protect girls from early marriage while improving access to schooling. She also pressed authorities to work with traditional and religious leaders so that child-marriage laws are applied in both law and practice across communities. Her comments emphasized that removing barriers such as school fees, uniforms and transport costs is important for keeping girls, especially in rural areas, in secondary school.

The article says Ezekwesili pointed to Nigeria’s large burden of child marriage, including cited figures that she described as especially severe in parts of northern Nigeria. She also linked the issue to learning poverty, arguing that children who do not gain basic literacy early are more likely to leave school and face early marriage. As a broader policy point, she urged greater domestic funding for girls’ education as foreign aid declines and called for tracking school progression and marriage rates.

Cautionary background: the piece presents child marriage as both an education and economic-development issue, and notes that progress is possible through schooling, legal reform and social protection. Those broader claims are part of the reporting’s context rather than a new policy announcement.