A SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD was among the couples who were joined together through a mass wedding programme funded by the Kano State Government last Saturday, finding has shown. The concerns are significant because the federal Child Rights Act, enacted by the National Assembly in 2003, expressly prohibits child marriage. For years, Kano was among the states that did not domesticate the Child Rights Act. The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) described the legislation as a landmark development that incorporated the principles of Nigeria’s Child Rights Act into the state’s legal framework. It described child marriage as a human-rights violation that deprives girls of childhood, education and opportunities.