Accelerate Hub: Investing in girls’ education could avert 327,000 child marriages in Nigeria

A new research by Accelerate Hub, an interdisciplinary research hub, says scaling up proven interventions to support adolescent girls in Kano and Kaduna states could avert 327,000 child marriages.

The findings of the policy brief titled ‘High Impacts and Returns from Investing in Adolescent Girls in Northern Nigeria’, were presented in Abuja on Thursday by William Rudgard, lead author and researcher at Accelerate Hub.

Addressing stakeholders, Rudgard said evidence shows that targeted investments in adolescent girls carry some of the highest returns in the development sector.

“Modelling shows that investing $114 million to support 1.1 million adolescent girls would lead to more than 3.9 million additional years of schooling, 327,000 averted cases of child marriage, and 383,000 averted adolescent pregnancies,” he said.

According to the modelling, the interventions would generate an estimated $2.5 billion in societal benefits, equivalent to at least a 21-to-1 return on investment.

The research also predicts that the programmes would prevent 3,651 adolescent maternal deaths and 35,675 under-five child deaths, while reducing girls’ exposure to sexual violence and strengthening opportunities for productive livelihoods.

The brief noted that completing secondary school significantly improves girls’ life outcomes, with the median age of marriage rising from 16.6 years among girls with no education to 21.7 years for those who finish secondary school.

The modelling is based on proven interventions implemented by the Kaduna-based Centre for Girls’ Education (CGE), including the Pathways to Choice programme for unmarried out-of-school girls and the Adolescent Girls Initiative, which supports girls in primary 6 during critical school transitions.

Evaluations of these programmes showed strong results, including a 68 percent increase in school attendance and a 76 percent reduction in child marriage among participants in Pathways to Choice, while pilot studies of the Adolescent Girls Initiative found 82 percent retention among girls at high risk of dropping out.

Accelerate Hub estimated that scaling up these interventions between 2026 and 2030 would reach 791,432 out-of-school girls and 283,864 girls enrolled in primary 6 but at risk of dropping out, covering more than 1.1 million girls across Kano and Kaduna states.

The organisation urged governments, donors, and development partners to prioritise investment in adolescent girls because of the multi-sectoral benefits and high economic returns.

Habiba Mohammed, executive director of the CGE, implored Nigeria to expand opportunities for every girl, adding that educating girls is the foundation for safer communities, stronger families, and a more prosperous nation.

Mohammed said her organisation “works with girls at every stage”, from preschoolers to married adolescents, from girls seeking vocational skills to those aiming for careers in STEM.

“We train teachers to become mentors. This gives us ripple effect of indirect beneficiaries who carry forward the skills and knowledge,” she said.

“We don’t want a situation where girls drop out. When girls learn, the possibility of them being retained in school is very high.”