For years, the women of Becheve lived under a tradition that could determine their fate before they were old enough to understand what marriage meant.

For some girls, the decision about whom they would marry was made when they were still children. For others, it was made even before they were born.

They were not consulted. They did not choose their husbands. In some cases, they were given in marriage to men old enough to be their fathers as part of arrangements involving debts and financial obligations.

The practice was known locally as “Money Woman.”

On Wednesday, 19 August 2026, that long and painful chapter in the history of Becheve reached what community leaders described as its final closure.

More than 57 women and girls who survived the practice were formally emancipated, following the refund of ₦100,000 to each man involved in the arrangements. The payment was intended to remove the financial claims that some men had continued to use to resist the community's earlier abolition of the practice.