By Auwal Ahmad, Gombe

The Kalthum Foundation for Peace has called on governments and security agencies to strengthen measures to protect girls in conflict-affected communities, warning that insecurity, poverty and displacement are exposing more children to early marriage and disrupting their education.

The foundation’s Chief Executive Officer, Ummu Kalthum Muhammad Rabiu, made the call in a statement issued in Maiduguri on Sunday to mark the 2026 International Day of the Girl Child.

She said child marriage had become a major concern in Northern Nigeria and the Sahel, where armed conflict, economic hardship and climate-related challenges continued to undermine the safety and future of adolescent girls.

Ms Rabiu argued that child marriage should not be treated merely as a social or cultural issue, but as a threat to education, development and long-term security.

“Ending girl child marriage is not a slogan for us in Northern Nigeria, in the Sahel and across West Africa. It is an emergency,” she said.

She noted that when schools were closed because of insurgency, banditry and kidnapping, girls were often among the first to lose access to education. Families facing displacement and financial hardship, she added, sometimes resorted to marrying off their daughters to reduce household expenses.

“When families are displaced and have no food, who is married off at 13 for N50,000 or a bag of rice? The girl,” she said.

According to Ms Rabiu, the effects of insecurity are compounded by environmental and economic pressures, including the shrinking of Lake Chad and conflicts between farmers and herders, which have weakened the livelihoods of many families across the region.

She cited figures attributed to UNICEF indicating that 44 per cent of girls in Northern Nigeria were married before the age of 18. She also pointed to the high prevalence of child marriage in countries such as Niger and Burkina Faso as evidence of the wider challenge facing the Sahel.

The foundation’s chief executive said early marriage could deprive girls of educational opportunities, limit their economic independence and perpetuate poverty across generations.

“Girl child marriage is not just a girls’ issue. It is a security issue. It is an HDI issue. It is a peace issue,” she said.

Ms Rabiu urged governments and security agencies to prioritise the protection of schools and ensure that girls in conflict-affected communities could continue their education without fear of attacks, abduction or forced marriage.

She called for stronger implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration, stressing that education should form a central part of strategies to protect children and prevent further social instability.

“A school must be protected like a military barracks,” she said.

She also called for greater collaboration with traditional rulers, Islamic scholars and teachers in Tsangaya and Islamiyya schools to address child marriage and encourage community participation in protecting girls.

According to her, religious and traditional leaders could play an important role in changing attitudes and discouraging practices that expose children to harm.

“Marrying off a 12-year-old who has seen no menstrual cycle is not Islam — it is poverty using religion as cover,” she said.

Beyond government intervention, Ms Rabiu urged international donors, United Nations agencies and state governments to provide direct funding to women-led organisations working in communities affected by conflict.

She said women were often at the forefront of peacebuilding, mediation and efforts to prevent young people from joining armed groups, but their contributions remained inadequately recognised in formal security discussions.

“For too long, security meetings in Abuja, Niamey, Ouagadougou and N’Djamena discuss the Sahel without one woman from the Sahel at the table,” she said.

“Peace agreements are signed about our bodies, without our voices. Education policies are made for our daughters, without our mothers.”

The foundation announced plans to mark the international day through engagements with 200 adolescent girls who had escaped child marriage and returned to school in three communities in Maiduguri.

Ms Rabiu said the programme would provide the girls with an opportunity to share their experiences and contribute to discussions on their rights, safety and future.

She urged families and community leaders to support girls’ education and ensure that economic hardship did not become a justification for forcing children into marriage.

“To every girl reading this in Borno, in Zamfara, in Tahoua, in Kaya: Your education is your right. Your voice is your power. Your marriage must be your choice, not your family’s survival strategy,” she said.

Ms Rabiu reaffirmed the foundation’s commitment to advocating for the protection of girls and ensuring that children in Northern Nigeria and across the Sahel could access education, live safely and make decisions about their futures.