By Jeremiah Archibong
Becheve is a clan of 16 communities in Cross River State, Nigeria. It hosts the famous Obudu Cattle Ranch and the Obudu Mountain Resort, two of the state’s biggest tourism centres.
But inside Becheve is also a very terrible and harmful culture where parents and relatives give out girls as young as 6 to older men as settlement for debt.
These girls are called “money wives” or “money women”. The men who buy them subject them to torture, abuse, starvation and hard labour.
Weak implementation of existing laws means the practice continues despite campaigns by advocacy groups.
This story was produced with the support of the Nigeria Health Watch through the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.
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