{"id":260821,"date":"2016-10-23T08:20:57","date_gmt":"2016-10-23T08:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=260821"},"modified":"2016-10-23T08:20:57","modified_gmt":"2016-10-23T08:20:57","slug":"child-marriages-prevalent-in-muslim-communities-ncce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/10\/child-marriages-prevalent-in-muslim-communities-ncce\/","title":{"rendered":"Child marriages prevalent in Muslim communities – NCCE"},"content":{"rendered":"
Northern Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Razak Saani has condemned the prevalence of child marriage and sexual abuse in Muslim dominated communities of the region.<\/p>\n
He buttressed his standpoint by citing Nakpaa, a village in the Nanumba North District where he revealed that the practice is out of control.<\/p>\n
This phenomenon, he noted has adversely affected government and civil society organizations effort aimed at strengthening girl child education.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n He maintained that some Muslim Clerics, traditional rulers and some irresponsible parents are to be blamed for the menace.<\/p>\n Razak Saani raised this concern at a stakeholders meeting organized by women rights campaigner called Songtaba, a local Non Governmental Organization operating within the eastern corridor of the Northern Region.<\/p>\n He stated, \u201cSome parents are adversaries and we have had situations where some enlightened chiefs are beneficiaries of child marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe other thing we have to talk about is the misinterpretation of religion which is very bad. Unfortunately, it is some Muslims who perpetrate it. The Christians don\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n He proposed the celebration of virgin girls in communities where the phenomenon is common as means of setting standard for others to emulate.<\/p>\n Razak Saani also chided district assemblies in the region for paying less attention to the protection of child rights through advocacy.<\/p>\n