Emir of Kano condemns child marriages in Nigeria

The Emir of Kano in Nigeria, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, has openly condemned child marriages during a conference of Northern religious leaders on primary health care in Kano on Tuesday.

“I believe the time is ripe to take a stand on this age long practice of early marriage, and coincidentally we subscribed to Malikiyya school of thought like Morocco, Malaysia and Egypt who had since pegged marriage age to 17, 19 and 18 respectively,” the former Central Bank governor said.

Sanusi believes allowing women to attain maturity before marriage is essential because the role of women as housewives is quite challenging.

Sanusi also used the opportunity to stress that Islam condemns any type of assault on women.

The Emir criticised the idea of marrying multiple wives for those who do not have enough financial resources to sustain polygamous families.

Emir of Kano cautions against flippant polygamy, underage marriages: The Emir of Kano, M… https://t.co/poILEwdTWL Via NGRGUARDIANNEWS

— A.M (RealAbdulQadir) May 25, 2016

The Emir of Kano is considered by many as Nigeria’s second-highest Muslim authority.

Sanusi emerged as Emir of Kano in June 2014, two months after his suspension by president Goodluck Jonathan from his position as Central Bank Governor despite gaining international reputation for reforming Nigeria’s economy.

The former banker was later installed in February 8, 2015 as the Emir of Kano replacing Alhaji Ado Bayero who died at the age of 83.

Sanusi’s nightmares with government authorities arose after he gave evidence of close to $20 billion failed payments into the federal coffers by the Nigeria’s National Petroleum Corporation.

He was suspended after presenting parliament with evidence that the state oil firm Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had failed to make the payment into federal coffers.