Niger's ministers banned polygamy by presidential order

The President of Niger, Mohamed Bozuma, decided to prevent his ministers from marrying a second wife, threatening to dismiss one of them if one of them chose polygamy.

Bozuma announced his decision before a women's gathering, hinting that "his decision may not satisfy everyone," noting that "polygamy is a bad thing... Those who will argue with us say that our religion is what said that."

According to observers, the decision will not satisfy the dreamers of polygamy in this African country known for the marriage of minors, which makes nostalgia possible for the era of his predecessor, former President Mohamed Issoufou, who had two wives.

The Nigerian president did not hide - while addressing the crowd, most of which were women - that his speech carried "a risk." Bozuma called on his ministers - in a video clip of his speech last Friday, which was met with warm feminist applause - to be "a role model", saying: "As long as you are In my government, you are prohibited from taking an additional wife... A minister who wants to marry another wife is not forbidden, but he must leave the government.”

According to "Sky News Arabia".

Bozma's decision, which did not provoke a reaction among the ministers concerned with it, caused an uproar in Nigerian public opinion, at a time when the government is seeking ways to reduce population growth in the African country, which has a population of more than 24 million people, according to World Bank statistics.

In the same speech, the Nigerian president affirmed that his country “faces a real demographic problem that represents a major obstacle to the country’s development,” referring to statistics on the dangers of unbridled demographic growth.

And the American newspaper "Washington Post" says that 76% of Niger girls become brides before they reach the age of eighteen, which is the highest rate of child marriage in the world.

With the spread of the Corona epidemic, the number of underage marriage increased, and UNICEF expected that the long-term effects of the epidemic, resulting from school closures and increasing economic hardship, would push about 10 million more girls to marry before the end of the current decade.

Parents in Niger tend to prioritize education for boys, who are seen as future breadwinners, which makes girls more likely to drop out of school, and more than a quarter of girls marry before the age of 15, despite breaking the country's law, according to the American newspaper.

The World Health Organization has allocated about $8.3 million from the Emergency Reserve Fund to help 10.6 million people in need of emergency health services in the Sahel region.

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