Teenage Pregnancy: Who Takes The Blame?

A second-year medical student, Amarachi
Sunday, recently got pregnant for a blind
man, Festus. Although Festus claimed that he loved
Amarachi, her parents, who are both
lecturers in the university, did not approve of
their relationship. They described it as an affront for their 19-
year-old daughter to marry Festus, who is
poor and physically challenged. They persuaded Amarachi, their only
daughter, to reject Festus, have the baby
alone and return to school afterwards. To their surprise, Amarachi
jettisoned their
advice, dropped out of school and got
married to Festus. Amarachi's parents eventually rejected her
before she gave birth to a baby girl and
shortly after that, she became pregnant
again. Unfortunately, Festus' attitude suddenly
changed towards Amarachi, as he started
maltreating her. He became very touchy and started punching
her; beating her up to such an extent that she
had a miscarriage which led to the removal
of her womb. Strangely enough, Festus later sent the
hapless girl out his home and brought in
another wife. Amarachi's plight somewhat reflects the
troubles of several other teenagers who got
entangled with unplanned pregnancies. Observers note that teenage
pregnancy is on
the increase in Nigeria, conceding, however,
that it is more of a global menace, with
African countries mostly affected. They cite a report of the World Health
Organisation (WHO) which indicates that more
than 16 million girls, between the ages of 15
and 19, as well as over two million girls
under 15 years give birth every year
worldwide. They also noted that the report reveals,
among other things, that an estimated three
million girls from age 15 to 19 undergo
unsafe abortion every year. They observed that the WHO statistics on
Nigeria in 2010 indicate that the country
accounts for 22.9 per cent of teenage
pregnancies globally. From all indications, the situation appears
grim, compelling concerned observers to call
for the introduction of appropriate measures
to alleviate the growing menace of teenage
pregnancy. Miss Barisi Elizabeth, a student of the
Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta,
blames the teenage pregnancy on parents,
particularly mothers, who are too busy to
watch over their children's upbringing. She also says that some parents are too
harsh on their children, making it impossible
for their children to confide in them on issues
concerning sexuality. "Mothers are
supposed to teach their children sex
education so as to guard against their making costly mistakes and
getting accidental
pregnancies," she says. Sharing similar sentiments, Mrs Norah
Ugokwe, a retired civil servant, also blames
the rising menace of teenage pregnancy on
parents, particularly mothers. She frowns at a situation where many
women leave their children in the care of
relations or nannies. Ugokwe identifies peer pressure as another
factor that contributes to teenage pregnancy,
citing an instance of a student who got
pregnant as a result of negative influence by
her peers. However, Mrs Grace Ketefe of Women
Advocate and Research Documentation
Centre, Lagos, attributes the phenomenon to
the lack of basic knowledge of sexuality. Ketefe, a lawyer, decries a
situation in which
teenagers get pregnant because of lack of
sex education, stressing that if teenagers are
well tutored at home or in school, teenage
pregnancies will be reduced to the barest
minimum. Echoing similar views, Mrs Aluko Olokun, the
President, African Female Lawyers
Association, notes that many teenagers
succumb to unwanted pregnancies due to
their non-exposure to sex education. "Those
who are victims are not well-informed about their sexuality, either at
school or by their
parents; so, they are lured into having
unprotected sex," she says. Olokun pledges the commitment of her
association, among others, to educating
teenagers on sexuality, especially during the
World Child's Right Day celebrations. She, however, insists that the
inclusion of sex
education in the school curricula will help
teenagers to reject sex and scream for help
whenever they are assaulted sexually. All the same, Mrs. Shekarau Hauwa, the
National President, International Federation
of Female Lawyers (FIDA), blames the rising
incidence of teenage pregnancy on the society
and parents. Shekarau attributes the menace to absence of
sex education, peer pressure and sexual
violence, as well as the craze for money by
some parents. She says that many parents often leave their
boys and girls on their own to discover their
sexuality, instead of guiding them. "The truth is that most of our children know
more than we can imagine, especially with
this age of information technology where
information is at our fingertips," she says. Shekarau laments that negative peer
pressure has made several girls to
experiment sex, adding: "If such girls
refuse to conform, they are either rejected
or ostracised by their peers. "The fear of being ostracised makes them
to give in since they are not informed on how
to control their sexual urge," she adds. Shekarau, nonetheless,
stresses that another
source of concern is the rising menace of
sexual violence, including rape and incest, in
the society, calling on all the citizens and
relevant stakeholders to tackle the menace. Beyond that, the FIDA
president condemns
early marriage, stressing that the Child Right
Law prescribes 18 years as the minimum age
for marriage. "Under the Penal and Criminal Codes, sexual
intercourse with a minor, whether with the
consent of the minor or not, is statutory rape. "In other words, a
minor has no capacity to
consent to any sexual act; therefore, having
sexual intercourse with a juvenile is rape. "Unfortunately, how many
convictions do
we get for the constant rape of our young
daughters? "Sexual violence is generally on the
increase; what we are reading in the media
today is only a tip of the iceberg," she says. All in all, the experts
insist that the incidence
of teenage pregnancy in Nigeria will reduce
considerably if concerted efforts are made to
uphold criminal justice and punish offenders
accordingly.

Posted by Chrisray

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