From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
A development worker, Hajiya Binta Kasimu has said that girls who lost their parents to banditry go into early marriage and prostitution because they have no means of survival.
Speaking at an experience-sharing workshop on child marriage in the northwest, organized by the Kaduna State Ministry of Human Services and Social Development in Kaduna, she expressed dismay over the high rate of banditry in the country, saying it has forced many displaced orphan girls into child marriage and prostitution.
According to her, “Katsina state has the highest rate of banditry and the highest number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s), many of whom are from Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi states. A lot of the young girls are orphans and have no one to look out for them so they go into early marriage or prostitution because they do not know what to do and where to go.”
