Muhammadu Sanusi II, the Emir of Kano, has warned that the persistence of child marriage in parts of northern Nigeria is largely due to insufficient schools and limited opportunities for young girls after primary education.
Gatekeepers News reports that Sanusi made the remarks on Wednesday during an interview on Channels Television’s ‘The Morning Brief’, alongside Alfred Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha, and Haliru Yahaya Ndanusa, the Emir of Shonga, in a discussion on culture, education, and social reform.
The emir said public discourse often focuses on child marriage without addressing the structural conditions that push families into such decisions. He noted that many girls complete primary school at a very young age but have no clear path to secondary education or skills development.
“There’s no secondary school, there’s no skill centre, there are no provisions for her life,” Sanusi said.
He explained that poor families are often driven by fear rather than cultural preference when marrying off young girls.
“We’re talking about child marriage, but you go to some parts of the north, there’s a primary school and that’s it. Between 11 and 18, what arrangements have you made for her? The poor man basically finds that she’s 12 or 13; he’s afraid that she can get pregnant on the road, and the next young man that comes, he marries her off. Sometimes these cultures basically reflect poverty,” he said.
Sanusi criticised urban-centric perspectives that ignore rural realities, highlighting unsafe roads, distant or non-existent schools, and inadequate local government services.
“It’s easy to blame culture. It’s easy to blame a victim. But the government has not provided the schools,” he said.
The monarch pointed out that the Nigerian constitution guarantees every child the right to education, adding that taking a child out of school should legally constitute an offence.
“So if you take a child out of school you’re supposed to have committed an offence,” he said.
However, Sanusi questioned the practicality of enforcing such laws when the state itself has failed to provide the necessary schools.
“But how many people have ever been arrested for taking a child out of school? None of them,” he said.
He stressed that tackling child marriage requires more than moral condemnation or cultural debate; the government must invest in education and social infrastructure to provide girls with viable alternatives.
