By Mayen Etim
KADUNA, North-West Nigeria — The Executive Director of Women and Children’s Rights and Empowerment Foundation, Mariam Marwa-Abu, has been honoured as the Most Outstanding Author in Northern Nigeria 2026 by the Arewa Publishers Forum of Nigeria.
Marwa-Abu, a lawyer and child-rights advocate, is the author of In the Shadow of the Neem Tree, a thought-provoking book that calls on parents and guardians acting in loco parentis to reflect deeply on their responsibility to safeguard the wellbeing of children.
Through the book, the author gives voice and strength to young girls while challenging society to confront the profound and lasting consequences of early and forced marriage, including its social and psychological effects and its impact across generations.
Presenting the award during a ceremony at Marwa-Abu’s office in Kaduna on Monday, the National President of the forum, Alhaji (Dr.) Sani Mohammed, commended her for using her writing and advocacy to address child abuse and other societal challenges.
Mohammed, however, called on gender advocates to also pay greater attention to issues affecting boys and men.
He said while women and girls deserved protection from abuse and discrimination, boys and men also faced harassment and other forms of injustice that should not be ignored.
“You people go from one place to another seeking rights for female children. Gender, gender, gender — please find somewhere to talk about male children because men are also harassed, even in their marriages,” he said.
He added that the recognition had placed Marwa-Abu’s name “with golden ink” among notable authors in the region.
Through the book, the author gives voice and strength to young girls while challenging society to confront the profound and lasting consequences of early and forced marriage, including its social and psychological effects and its impact across generations.
Presenting the award during a ceremony at Marwa-Abu’s office in Kaduna on Monday, the National President of the forum, Alhaji (Dr.) Sani Mohammed, commended her for using her writing and advocacy to address child abuse and other societal challenges.
Mohammed, however, called on gender advocates to also pay greater attention to issues affecting boys and men.
He said while women and girls deserved protection from abuse and discrimination, boys and men also faced harassment and other forms of injustice that should not be ignored.
“You people go from one place to another seeking rights for female children. Gender, gender, gender — please find somewhere to talk about male children because men are also harassed, even in their marriages,” he said.
He added that the recognition had placed Marwa-Abu’s name “with golden ink” among notable authors in the region.
Responding, Marwa-Abu described the award as a reward for hard work and an encouragement to continue her advocacy.
She said she initially wrote the book as a different way of reaching communities and helping people understand the challenges confronting children.
“It’s wonderful when you work hard and you are appreciated. There’s nothing like it,” she said.
“Initially, when I wrote the book, it was for the community. I just wanted to do something different.
“Every day, as a lawyer or activist, you go into communities and tell people about the problems they face. So I said, let me try something different and write a book that they can read and see themselves in the characters because it is fictional.”
She said she was grateful for the recognition, noting that the book had received other forms of appreciation since its publication. “I deeply appreciate you taking the time to recognise me and give me this award, and I’m very grateful,” she added.
Asked why her advocacy appeared to focus more on the girl-child than the boy-child, Marwa-Abu said girls remained disadvantaged by longstanding social and cultural structures.
She explained that discrimination against girls often began from childhood, giving boys what she described as a head start in life.
“Female children are marginalised. When you say marginalised, it means that as they are born, they already have a setback, so a male child is already given a head start,” she said.
She cited her experience as a mother, saying people had reacted differently when she had daughters before eventually having a son.
“I had two daughters before I had a son, and the only thing I was hearing was, ‘Oh, finally.’ Why? That is so funny when I had only just had two daughters,” she said.
Marwa-Abu said the historical discrimination against girls, including harmful practices against female children, demonstrated why sustained advocacy and protective policies remained necessary.
She said women and girls continued to suffer sexual violence, mutilation, insults and harassment, stressing that advocacy in the gender space remained essential.
“Unfortunately, the world is already patriarchal, which means it already has men in mind. Female children suffer, whether they are raped, mutilated, insulted or harassed,” she said.
“That is why policies are needed to protect them because they cannot always protect themselves. That is why I work in the gender space because we need advocates and people who understand.”
The WCREF boss also condemned early and forced marriage, describing it as a harmful practice that should not be allowed to continue.
She recalled the case of an eight-year-old girl who, according to her, had been prepared for marriage without understanding what it meant.
“A few weeks ago, an eight-year-old girl had all this ‘lalle’ on her hands and she was ready. They were marrying her off. She had already been told, but she didn’t understand the concept because she was smiling and happy,” she said.
“She did not know that she would leave home, leave her parents and stay with a strange man she does not know.”
Marwa-Abu argued that early and forced marriage should not be presented as an Islamic practice, saying some of the practices were rooted in culture.
“So this is not Islam. These things are foreign and cultural. It is time that we understand the implications of early and forced marriage,” she said.
“The sooner we understand it and the sooner we tell people to stop it, the better our society will be.”
Also speaking, Marwa-Abu’s husband, Col. Abdul Mohammed (retd.), expressed pride in her achievement and thanked God for giving her the knowledge to write about issues affecting society.
“I’m very proud and happy, and I appreciate your coming. I thank Almighty Allah for giving her the knowledge to write a book that concerns what is happening in our society today,” he said.
Mohammed said women and children were often the most vulnerable during crises because men frequently fled while women remained behind to protect their children.
“Most of the time, where there are crises, who are the most vulnerable? Women and children, because the men run away.
“The women most of the time stay with the children, trying to protect the children, and they get caught up in such crises,” he said.
He stressed the need to provide opportunities for girls to develop and contribute meaningfully to society.
“That is why it is always very important to give the girl-child an opportunity to grow and become important to society,” he added.
The retired military officer congratulated his wife on the award, saying the recognition would further motivate her to continue her work.
“For this year’s award, we are grateful and we appreciate you. You have gingered us to work harder, and we are sure you will do better. We will always call you whenever we need to discuss such matters,” he said.
