The Story of Mum-Zi, the youngest grandmother in Nigeria

The issue of Child Marriage is not a topic of recent years, from ancient times, it has been noted and discovered that girls of young age has been deprived of their childhood, education and so many opportunities as a result of being mothers at a very young age.

Mum-Zi is from an Island called Akwa Akpa, present day city of Calabar. She is a young child who was deprived of her childhood as she gave birth at the age of 8 years and 4 months, in 1884.  

She also became a grandmother at age 17, as her daughter followed her footsteps, becoming a mother at the age of eight years and eight months.

In recent times, most people at that age are about to complete their education or to graduate from high school. The thought of even becoming a parent is rare, thus, having grandchildren is often out of place.

But this was not the situation for Mum-Zi and her daughter, as well as, other young girls in the 19^th Century.

According to Lyall Archibald’s 1936 book, The Future of Taboo in These Islands, Mum-Zi was a member of Chief Akkiri’s harem in Akwa Akpa (now Calabar), who would later be the father of her daughter. (Kuulpeeps).

In most parts of Africa and elsewhere, a harem, in terms of royal harems of the past, may house a man’s wives and concubines, as well as, their children, unmarried daughters, female domestic workers, and other unmarried female relatives.

This private space has traditionally served the purposes of maintaining the modesty, privilege, and protection of women

Mum-Zi was one of the many women and girls who lived in a harem belonging to Chief Akkiri. After giving birth at 8 years and four months, with the chief being the father, her daughter also became a mother exactly eight years later. She was reportedly impregnated by the same chief who happens to be her father.

She gave birth at an age slightly older than that of her mother’s, as she was 8 years and 8 months. Nevertheless, this remains one of the shocking moments in history.

Ever since the 1700s, a number of cases have been highlighted to show how girls and women across the world suffer just because of their gender.

Among these forms of gender-based violence is child marriage, which denies children their childhood and take away from them the opportunities for education and a better life. It also exposes them to risk of violence at the hands of their usually older and powerful husbands.

A recent report by Girls Not Brides revealed that globally, more than 700 million women alive today were married as children and 17 per cent of them, or 125 million, live in Africa.(Kuulpeeps).