The Girl on the Frontline of Crisis is Leading. Are We Listening? – THISDAYLIVE

By Rachel Lawrence

The theme for this year’s International Day of the Girl Child, “The girl I am, the change I lead: Girls on the frontlines of crisis,” paints a picture of resilience and agency. It resonates deeply with the lived realities of girls in Nigeria, especially, Northern Nigeria. The crisis is child marriage, and the frontline is her own home, her own body, and her own future. The question is not whether she is leading the fight for her life, but whether our strategies are designed to follow her lead or silence it.
The crisis is quantified by the recent 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), officially released in 2022, which shows a national prevalence of 30% of women aged 20-24 having been married before the age of 18, a noticeable decrease from 44% in 2016. However, this progress is highly uneven, with the practice remaining significantly concentrated in the northern regions; for instance, the North-West and North-East report prevalence rates of approximately 52% and 51.1%, respectively. Furthermore, the deep-seated connection to poverty is evident, as 58% of girls from the poorest households are married before turning 18, underscoring the urgent need for targeted geographical interventions. These numbers represent individual frontlines: girls facing immense family and social pressure; their education and health sacrificed for a custom they had no hand in creating.
The girl on the frontline of the child marriage crisis in Northern Nigeria is fighting a battle that laws from Abuja cannot reach. While the Child Rights Act that sets 18 as the marriageable age gathers dust in 11 northern states, her crisis is immediate and local. Her leadership is not expressed in courtrooms but in her quiet defiance to stay in school, a daily act of courage against a system that sees her as a wife-in-waiting.
The failure of the CRA is a classic case of ignoring the frontline. The law is perceived as a “Western imposition,” an “interference” in religion and tradition. The real change, therefore, will not be legislated from the top down; it must be led from the ground up, by and for the girls most affected, supported by the leaders their communities trust. We must stop asking, “Why won’t they pass the law?” and start asking, “How can we support the girls and their allies who are already changing minds?”
My research on “Child Marriage in Northern Nigeria: The Roles of Traditional and Religious Leaders” was not just about statistics; it was about listening to girls on this frontline. I met 18- year-olds fighting to stay in school, acutely aware that a marriage proposal could end their dreams at any moment. Their battle is not against a vague notion of tradition, but against a system where the most respected voices in their community, traditional and religious leaders, often legitimize the very practice that threatens them.
Yet, within this bleak landscape, a crucial insight emerges: the most strategic way to support a girl on the frontline is to win over the commanding officers in her own camp. The Emirs and Imams hold the cultural authority that can either reinforce the crisis or declare a ceasefire. They are not distant policymakers; they are the gatekeepers of the reality these girls navigate every day.

When a girl leads, she should not be leading alone. Our investment must be in building her a coalition. Here’s how we can rally the leadership in her community to her side:

1. Amplify Her Voice With a Megaphone She Can Use: A girl’s advocacy in her family is often dismissed. But when her plea is echoed by the village Imam during a sermon, or when the Emir declares that a girl’s education is non-negotiable, her family listens. We must invest in programs that create these alliances, bringing traditional leaders to the table not as targets, but as essential partners in the change girls are already trying to lead.
2. Provide Her With a Shield of Education: The single most powerful tool to keep a girl on the frontline of her education, and off the frontline of marital crisis, is to keep her in school. As one religious leader I interviewed astutely noted, the most effective strategy is not to condemn child marriage outright, but to relentlessly champion education. “If parents start educating all their female children,” he said, “then these girls will be in school till 18.” This aligns perfectly with a girl’s own ambition and is an argument that can be framed within, not against, community values.
3. Change the Rules of Engagement on the Ground: Girls on the frontlines need tangible support systems. This means investing in the capacity of local leaders to create and enforce community bylaws that mandate marriage registration and discourage marrying out school-aged girls. An Emir told me that with the right support and authority, his traditional council could ensure “no one should give their child out in marriage until it is certified.” This creates a structural barrier that protects the girl leading her own quiet revolution at home.
   This requires a new kind of investment. Instead of pouring resources solely into legal advocacy, we must invest in the “change she leads” by empowering her most powerful potential allies: traditional and religious leaders. When an Emir speaks, his community listens. When an Imam reinterprets religious texts to prioritize a girl’s education and health, he legitimizes her struggle. Supporting girls on the frontline means funding the dialogues, the local-language radio programs, and the community forums that allow her reality to be heard by those with the power to transform it. The law is the destination, but she is leading the journey.
   The girl in Northern Nigeria is already on the frontline. She is resisting in the only ways she can— by striving to learn, by dreaming of a different future. The change she leads is a desperate, courageous fight for self-determination.
   On this International Day of the Girl Child, let us not just celebrate her resilience from afar. Let us strategically deploy our resources to ensure the most influential voices in her world are amplifying her struggle, not suppressing it. By investing in the leadership of her traditional and religious leaders, we don’t take the lead away from her. We finally give her the army she needs to win. The girl she is, is more than a bride. The change the girl child leads is more than survival—it is about rewriting the story for the next generation. In Northern Nigeria, every girl deserves the chance to say: “I am free, I am educated, I am the change.”

*Racheal Lawrence is a human rights advocate and development practitioner, currently working as a Fellow with the Mastercard Foundation in Nigeria, where she works with the Workforce Development team to advance youth employment and inclusive economic growth.