The new Sultan of Bamoun, in North-East Cameroon, King Nabil Mbombo Njoya, made news recently, when he, in defiance of long standing tradition, rejected a 14-year-old virgin bride as part of requirements for his initiation rite.
Bamoun formerly existed as a monarchical nation called the Kingdom of Bamoun and ruled by Kings or Sultans. The traditional title is Mfon, translated as King or Sultan to mean King of his people and Sultan as leader of Islam in his kingdom.
The 28-year-old Sultan Njoya is the 20th Mfon. He succeeded his late father, Sultan Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya who died recently.
As part of coronation rites, one aspect of tradition the Sultan has to fulfill is the ‘Lah-Kam’, wherein he is expected to take a teenage virgin bride from the Njim Monchouh line. The purpose of this rite is that the young girl who has become a wife offers her virginity to the new king in order for him to complete his initiation rites.
Sultan Njoya, however, refused to marry the girl he was presented with, citing her age and noting that she should be in school to get an education that will advance her life.
He instead opted to sponsor her education up to university level.
According to Article 144 of the Civil Code of Cameroon, the minimum legal age for marriage is 15 and a girl of 14 is ripe for marriage with the consent of her parents.
The Cameroon 2018 Demographic and Health Survey reveals that child marriage is widespread in Cameroon, with girls being most victimised. The survey shows that 30 percent of married girls/women between the ages of 15 and 49 years entered into marriage on or before their 15th birthday, and 66 per cent before the age of 18. Though the country’s Penal Code criminalises child marriage, victims who are minors can only pursue legal action represented by their parents but this is a rare occurrence as parents are usually initiators and enablers of such unions.
Even though the country has failed to adopt a legal framework that prohibits child marriage, the Sultan chose to be different and this is commendable.
Whereas others hide under the garb of tradition to do all manner of things and claim they are constrained, the new Sultan chose to stand up and be counted as a strong voice against child marriage.
Back home, Nigeria, according to UNICEF is one of four countries in the world where child marriage is prevalent.
A 2021 report by Save the Children International (SCI), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), said child marriage is still prevalent in the country, particularly in the North-East and North-West, where 48 per cent of girls were married by age 15 and 78 per cent by age 18.
According to the organisation’s report on “State of the Nigerian Girl Report – An Incisive Diagnosis of Child Marriage,” 78 per cent of girls in the north marry before the age of 18.
In spite the damning statistics, it is regrettable that 10 states, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Zamfara, Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe and Yobe which happen to be in the northern part of the country, are yet to domesticate the Child Rights Act which was passed in the country 18 years ago. The Act, passed in 2003, raised the minimum age of marriage to 18 for girls.
There are socio-cultural and religious norms and practices in Nigeria around child marriage. Some of these deeply entrenched cultural, traditional, and social practices bolster gender-discriminatory norms against girls to the extent that they are conditioned to accept it as a normal way of life.
This is in spite of the preponderance of evidence that the practice has negative effects on the health, education and economic empowerment as well as physical and psychological development of the child.
Early girl-child marriage deprives girls of their basic rights as it not only disrupts, but in many instances, puts an end to their education, denies them the opportunity to acquire useful skills and exposes them to the risks associated with child birth such as maternal mortality and morbidity as well as vesico vaginal fistula (VVF) among others.
Apart from the health and psycho-social issues associated with the practise, early girl-child marriage also partly accounts for the high-school dropout rate among the demographic, leading to poor life outcomes and poverty.
There have been reported cases of teenage brides who killed their spouses or did other unheard of things. In 2014, Wasila Umar, a 14-year-old child bride, made the news when she killed her husband and his friends by poisoning their food. She alleged it was a forced marriage to a man she did not love. This can be linked to her emotional and psychologically preparedness for the demands of marriage especially to a man she didn’t love.
Imagine, therefore, how challenging it would be for a 14-year-old who can barely care for herself to be able to please a king and meet the demands of royalty.
Sultan Njoya has proven that the law was indeed made for man and not the reverse.
He has shown by his action that those who hide under tradition to do and get away with things such as cradle snatching have no excuse to do the right thing.
It is actions such as his that help in dismantling archaic customs that no longer have relevance in contemporary society.
There is a lesson to learn from this.
