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In Ghana, fears over pandemic rise in teenage pregnancies
Gifty Nuako has just turned 18, an age when a young person stands on the threshold of life. Instead, her future looks bleak.
Last December, she became pregnant — “a mistake,” she says in a whisper.
She wanted to have an abortion, but her boyfriend’s family refused.
Today, in the back streets of Jamestown, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the Ghanaian capital Accra, the teenager hides her barely rounded stomach under a long skirt and scarves.
“Now I can’t work, I can’t go back to school. I don’t know what to do any more,” she said.
Unwanted teenage pregnancy is a major problem in Ghana, simultaneously disempowering girls and entrenching them in poverty, say campaigners.
Activists estimate that nearly one woman in seven in the country becomes pregnant before the age of 19.
And, they say, anecdotal evidence suggests the numbers soared last year after the authorities closed schools to help curb the spread of Covid.
“Schools were a form of protection,” said Sarah Lotus Asare, who volunteers with disadvantaged teenage girls.
The schools also gave a sense of purpose to many girls — a crucial compass point that was taken away when education was shut down.
“Many found themselves idle, without adults to supervise them,” she said.
Classes reopened in mid-January after a 10-month closure — one of the world’s longest continuous educational shutdowns prompted by the coronavirus crisis.
– Contraception –
While teenage sexual activity increased during the school shutdown, the vast majority of girls in Ghana do not have access to birth control.
According to a study by the Ghana Health Service in 2020, only 18.6 percent of sexually active adolescents use contraception.
Often, abortion is not an option either.
In this conservative and religious country, pregnancy termination is illegal except in cases of rape, incest, foetal impairment or danger to the mother’s physical or mental health.
Ghana’s lack of sex education is also a problem, said Esi Prah, a member of the NGO Marie Stopes, which works with the government to develop family planning.
“The sexuality of young girls is still stigmatised here,” she said.
“Ghanaians in general are rather hostile to the idea of sex education. There is a tendency to think that it encourages sex between teenagers and that the best contraception is abstinence.”
In 2019, an attempt by the government and the United Nations to implement a sex education programme sparked an uproar.
The initiative was attacked by conservative and religious groups, who denounced a “satanic” attempt to promote “LGBT values”. The programme was ultimately abandoned.
– Poverty roots –
Poverty is a cause of unwanted teen pregnancies, and unwanted teen pregnancies become a cause of poverty, say, campaigners
Theophilus Isaac Quaye, a local elected official in the district of Chorkor, poses for a portrait in his office in Accra, Ghana, on February 12, 2021. Nipah Dennis / AFP
Forty-six per cent of Ghana’s population was already living below the poverty line in 2017, and last year the pandemic plunged the country into recession.
“Some parents cannot take care of their children,” said Theophilus Isaac Quaye, a local elected official in the district of Chorkor, south of Accra.
“And then their daughters are forced to follow men who offered them money. This is not their fault. In order for them to survive, they have to follow these men.”
“The major reason for girls getting pregnant, it’s poverty,” Asare said.
School regulations do not formally prohibit young mothers from returning to school after childbirth, but in reality, it is very rare for them to return.
Fearing stigma or needing to support themselves, most teenage mothers quit their studies and find work.
Lacking qualifications, they often take up menial jobs and thus find themselves even deeper in the poverty rut.
“When you get pregnant, you realise the situation becomes worse,” said Asare.
“You couldn’t support yourself and now you have another mouth to feed.”
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Residents of the Hotoro area of Kano were thrown into panic after a woman allegedly set her co-wife and two children ablaze in a late-night domestic attack.
The incident occurred on Monday night in the Mai Allo area of Hotoro, leaving four persons with varying degrees of burns.
The victims — a 28-year-old woman and her two children aged seven and three — are currently receiving treatment at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Dala and Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital.
Their father, who reportedly sustained injuries while attempting to rescue the victims from the inferno, is also undergoing treatment.
A relative of the family informed that they received a distress call around 3am informing them that the woman, her husband and the children had been set ablaze.
According to the source, the victim had spent less than two weeks in her matrimonial home before the attack occurred.
“She is about 28 years old. The children are from her previous marriage. They are stepchildren to the husband, who works as a tricycle rider,” the relative added.
Residents of the area described the incident as horrifying and called on security agencies to ensure justice was served.
“We are shocked by what happened. This kind of violence has no place in our community,” a resident said.
The suspect has since been taken into custody at the Mariri Police Division.
As of the time of filing this report, the Kano State Police Command had yet to issue an official statement on the incident.
Crime & Court
UNIBEN killing: Edo security squad arrests 12 suspected cultists, seals initiation centres
Security operatives in Edo State have arrested 12 suspected cultists and sealed two apartments allegedly used as initiation centres during coordinated raids across parts of Benin City following the killing of a young man near the gate of the University of Benin.
The operation, code-named “Operation Flush Out Cultists and Kidnappers,” was carried out by the state’s Special Security Squad after the killing recorded on Sunday, May 10, 2026.
The development was disclosed in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Monday Okpebholo, Patrick Ebojele.
According to the statement, the Chief Security Officer and Principal Security Officer to the governor led the raids conducted in Ekosodin, Isihor, Old Road off S&T Barracks, Airport Road, 19th Street Ugbowo, Ogba-Evbuodia and Evbuomore Quarters, all in Benin City.
Spokesman for the security squad, Noah Idemudia, alleged that some youth leaders within communities in the state were aiding violent crimes and harbouring criminal elements.
He said intelligence reports indicated that sophisticated weapons used in deadly attacks were often traced to communities across the state.
“Reports reaching us indicate that some persons are allegedly harbouring criminals. Intelligence reports also suggest that sophisticated weapons used in deadly attacks on citizens are allegedly sourced from communities.
“The governor is warning community leaders to maintain peace in their various communities and ensure that no unlicensed weapons are found in their possession, as they will be held liable and treated as criminals,” Idemudia said.
He, however, clarified that the 12 suspects arrested were not directly linked to the killing near the university gate.
According to him, the suspects were allegedly identified as members of different cult groups after security operatives reportedly discovered symbols, signs and other incriminating materials on them during the raids.
Idemudia added that the suspects had been handed over to the Anti-Cultism Unit of the Nigeria Police Force for profiling and further investigation.
Speaking on the properties sealed during the operation, he said one of the apartments was allegedly being used as a cult initiation centre.
He explained that operatives came under attack while attempting to arrest suspects at the location, forcing authorities to seal the premises and invite the property owner for questioning.
He added that another apartment raided allegedly contained shrines and fetish items scattered across several rooms, which investigators suspect were being used for initiation into different confraternities.
According to him, the owner of the property had also been invited for questioning by security agencies.
“The governor has warned those sponsoring cultism and violent killings in the state to desist immediately.
“Anyone found aiding criminality in Edo State will face the full weight of the law, as the state will no longer be conducive for criminal elements,” Idemudia added.
He also warned against unlawful gatherings, alleging that some cult groups were planning anniversary celebrations across the state.
A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday convicted and sentenced former Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, to a cumulative 75 years imprisonment in absentia over a ₦33.8bn money laundering scandal linked to the Zungeru and Mambilla hydroelectric power projects.
The trial judge, Justice James Omotosho, found Mamman guilty on all 12 counts bordering on conspiracy and money laundering filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The judge ruled that the prison terms would run consecutively, bringing the total sentence to 75 years.
Justice Omotosho held that Mamman deliberately absented himself from court on the day of judgment and during the previous adjourned sitting in a bid to frustrate the administration of justice.
He agreed with counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 empowered the court to proceed with sentencing despite the defendant’s absence.
The court consequently sentenced the former minister to seven years imprisonment each on Counts 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 without an option of fine.
Mamman was also sentenced to three years imprisonment on Count 4 with an option of a ₦10m fine, and two years imprisonment on Count 5 without an option of fine.
Justice Omotosho further ordered that the sentence would commence from the date of Mamman’s arrest since he was convicted in absentia.
The judge directed security agencies within and outside Nigeria, including Interpol, to arrest the convict wherever he is found and hand him over to the Nigerian Correctional Service to serve his jail term.
The court also ordered the final forfeiture of two Abuja properties linked to the former minister, alongside various sums recovered in different currencies by anti-graft agencies.
In addition, the court ordered Mamman to refund the outstanding balance from the ₦22bn already traced to the Zungeru and Mambilla hydroelectric power projects out of the ₦33.8bn allegedly diverted.
The conviction followed a lengthy trial instituted by the EFCC, which accused Mamman of conspiring with ministry officials and private companies to divert funds earmarked for the two power projects.
Mamman was arraigned on July 11, 2024 on a 12-count charge and pleaded not guilty.
During the trial, the EFCC called 17 witnesses and tendered 43 exhibits to support its case.
Following the close of the prosecution’s case, the former minister filed a no-case submission on November 19, 2025, contending that the EFCC had failed to establish sufficient evidence against him.
However, Justice Omotosho, in a ruling delivered on December 11, 2025, dismissed the application and held that the prosecution had established a prima facie case requiring the defendant to open his defence.
The matter was subsequently adjourned for continuation of defence before Wednesday’s judgment brought the proceedings to a close.
The case, regarded as one of the most significant corruption convictions in recent years, stemmed from Mamman’s arrest and detention by the EFCC on May 10, 2021.
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