Following the recent alleged marriage of former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Sani Yerima, to a 13-year-old Egyptian girl, the Federal Government has said it has called a stakeholders’ meeting to determine the measures to be taken against abuse of underage girls by men old enough to be their fathers. In addition, it said legal steps to be adopted against such offenders are also being considered as a deterrent against such abusive behaviour. Speaking at a USAID-funded roundtable to share experiences and best practices on gender dimensions of the Orphans and Vulnerable Children Programming in Nigeria, Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Josephine Anenih, said the marriage of a senator of the Federal Republic to a 13-year-old girl was repugnant and amounted to the debasement of womanhood. The minister, who had come under pressure from gender-based activists to tackle the issue, said: “I will call a stakeholders’ meeting to deliberate on it and find a lasting solution to it. Men, who abuse vulnerable children; men, who marry 13-year-old children; I think such men should not be spared. They should be made to face the wrath of the law.” The minister, who was represented by the Director of Orphaned and Vulnerable Children, Mrs Oby Okwuonu, said the issue of sexual vulnerability was a function of poverty as such abuses do not usually happen to the children of the rich. In her remarks, Country Representative of Africare, one of the partners in the project, Maisha Strozier, said the project would last for five years in 11 focal states of the federation. “USAID through management sciences of health recently commenced a $20 million intervention package for orphans and vulnerable children in 11 Nigerian states through community-based support for OVC in Nigeria. “In five years, it plans to reach 50 thousand OVC and 12,500 caregivers in 11 focal states following national guidelines through a variety of community-based and family-centred approaches,” she said. The former governor, a serving senator, had allegedly married a 13-year-old Egyptian girl. Such marriage is illegal in Egypt which prompted the senator to have allegedly moved the ceremonies to Nigeria. The union had, however, drawn flaks and outrage from Nigerians, who felt such a union was quite unbecoming of a senator of the federal republic. Source: Thisdayonline.com