The Emir of Kano, Malam Muhammadu Sanusi, has linked forceful marriage of the girl-child, Boko Haram insurgent and similar social vices in Nigeria to exposure of youths to information technology and social media.
Sanusi, a former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor spoke on Saturday at the 10th Annual Ramadan lecture organized by Voice of Nigeria (VON), NTA and FRCN, in Kaduna,.
He explained that a product of girl-child marriage does not enjoy any parental care, adding that such a child finds interest in insurgent activities at a very young age.
According to the Emir, “the youth learn fast, new ideologies from the Internet and after watching they go to Iraqi and Syria to join the Jihadist groups.
“Are we still living in the era when a father can force his daughters into marriage without their permission? Yes, we are. Early marriage, yes we are in Nigeria, and it is hurting and destroying our society.
“We are the ones to address these social issues because they are problems.
“And, you know from taking her out of school and forcing her into marriage without education results in having a child from her who does not have a mother that can give the child proper training.
“That is a child that gets on drugs, India hemp or joins Boko Haram. All these things are connected. We have to face these challenges.
“Information technology and emergence of Internet and social media, today youth go on the computer and they learn Islam from Facebook and Twitter.
“They learn Islam from videos they watch on Facebook and after 14 to 15 hours watching new things they need to become jihadist.
“They get up and go to Iraq or Syria or somewhere and join the groups, and there are no controls.
“Right inside your house, your son can be sitting upstairs in the bedroom getting indoctrinated into an extremist group without your knowledge. We need to watch what our children watch. And we need to talk to them.
“If we do not give them the correct Islamic education, they will find the wrong education on the Internet.
“Now, this is very important because we have spent so much time in ignorance. I know we must send our children to school to acquire Western education which is very important.
“You have children going to England and becoming radicalised in America on the Internet not only in the muslim countries.
“So we need to make sure that we give our children correct Islamic education especially to take them away from religion extremism.
“In the 21st century, the Muslim ummah is facing enormous challenges.
“This century is facing challenges such as changing from traditional lifestyles to modern lifestyles, the increasing independence of women and awareness of their rights which represent huge challenges for this Boko Haram especially on matters of marriage and divorce.”
