In fact, it is 15 in most European countries. In Venezuela it is 14 with parental consent, 14 in Paraguay, 14 in Mexico, Bolivia 14. Coming to the African continent, the legal marriage age is 14 in Mozambique and 15 in Gabon. In Angola it is 15, Niger 15, Cameroon 15, Congo DR 15, Benin 15, Kenya 16 and Madagascar 14. In Equitorial Guinea it is 12! So what is all the noise about? Tanzania adds a more pragmatic scenario: the legal marriage age is 14 but girls below 12 can marry for religious reason with the proviso that the marriage will not be consummated until the girl reaches 12. Gambia, Maldives, Saudi Arabia and Sudan place no age limit at all on marriage. Nigeria ranks among the most conservative in this area as marriage age is still 18 under the law. MURIC is constrained to ask the following pertinent questions: how are these different from what Nigerian Muslims are saying? Why are some people stereotyping Muslims? Why is anything that has the Islamic tinge contemptuous to some? How can we truly integrate if you hold Muslims in contempt and you allow them to see the contempt? How do you expect Nigerian Muslims to have a sense of belonging? How can they be patriotic? Can this serve the interest of Nigeria as a nation? MURIC refers Doubting Thomases who might assume that we concocted these facts, to the following websites: en.wikipedia.org /wiki/ Marriageable_age, gulfnews, wunrn/ news/2011/09_11/ 09_19/ 091911_minimum.h tm, marriage.about.c om/cs/ teenmarriage/a/ teenother.htm, etc. MURIC advises Nigerians to be more liberal in thinking. Mindset approach will never work. We advise all and sundry to read and travel wide. Research is today a potent weapon. The world has become a global village courtesy of information technology. Nigerians should not allow themselves to be shut up in a shell. Ignorance will disappear from this country the day we decide to compare and contrast events in our land with what obtains in other countries
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 13:23:47 +0000