Why have plans for a mass wedding sparked controversy in Nigeria?

“Without the public outcry, the mass marriage would have gone on as planned.”

There’s been a lot of debate, claim and counter-claim in Nigeria this week over a proposed mass wedding of 100 couples in Niger state in the north of the country.

Concerns were raised that some of the girls involved were under the legal age for marriage, and a petition was quickly launched. The Women's Affairs Minister, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye filed a court injunction to stop the ceremony. She’s since said that the wedding can go ahead but only after an investigation has taken place – and has offered the girls scholarships as well as gifts including sewing machines and rice. She said the girls would be closely monitored in their new homes after their marriages. Child marriages are common in the predominantly Muslim north, where poverty is higher than in the largely Christian south.

Alan Kasujja unpicks the controversy – and asks what it tells us about the marriage of young people in Nigeria.

Presenter: Alan Kasujja. Guests: BBC reporter, Azeezat Olaoluwa and gender and child advocate, Ayotomiwa Ayodele.

Updated 24th May to reflect Minister Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye’s latest statement.