Nollywood and Child Marriage in Nigeria: A Study of <i>Wives on Strike</i> (2016)

Abstract

The minimum age for marriage varies from one country to another. Many countries adopted eighteen years as the age limit for marriage.  Nigeria aligned with this in the Child Rights Act of 2003. However, twenty-three states have domesticated this out of the thirty- six states of Nigeria. In the Northern part of Nigeria girls between twelve and fifteen years are deemed fit for marriage according to  Sharia Law, practiced predominantly in that part of the country. This paper, therefore, examines Omoni Oboli’s Wives on Strike (2016)  from the standpoint of Radical Feminism. The choice of this video film stems from the health hazard perpetrated on the girl child as a  result of child-bride marriage. Content analysis was adopted to critically analyse the video film for this study. This paper argues that the  female gender possesses the capability and capacity to effect change in the Nigerian society through a collective resolve amid all gender  biases. It recommends that the Child Rights Act should be domesticated in all the states of Nigeria as a way of safeguarding the girl child.