Textile trader Yusuf Abdullahi admitted he could not afford to marry despite being 30 years old until Nigeria’s northern Kano state financed and staged mass weddings for 1,800 couples.Customary gifts for newlyweds were also provided by the state as part of efforts to enable the poorest to get married. Abdullahi was one of the grooms dressed in a traditional white robe and red cap who took advantage of the weekend ceremonies."Life is really tough, this is why I could not get married, though I wanted to, until this time," Abdullahi said inside Kano’s central mosque where he and scores of other grooms waited for the religious service on Friday.The brides wore a bright red veil over a long robe.The mass wedding services also took place in mosques across the state."I pray my marriage becomes the key to my prosperity," Abdullahi said.Rising prices for fuel, housing, transport and food have driven some Nigerians, most of whom live on less than $2 (1.90 euros) per day, further into poverty.And getting married can be expensive.The state government "took full responsibility of the entire wedding processes and requirements", paying the 50,000 naira ($65) bride price and for customary furniture and food gifts, said Kano governor Abba Kabir Yusuf said.All 1,800 couples were received at the governor’s residence on Saturday and given their gifts.A bride price is a tradition in some parts of Africa where the groom pays an amount of money to the bride’s family, an obstacle to marriage for some couples. In the conservative state where cultural norms are strong, the bride’s family provides furniture and kitchenware, while the groom provides accommodation, boxes of clothing, cosmetics, jewellery, footwear and handbags."The dire economic situation in the country has made it difficult for brides and grooms to provide the furniture and trousseau (clothes) required for marriage," said Abba Sufi, director-general of Kano’s Shariah police, Hisbah. The government also presented 20,000 naira grants to each bride "as seed money to start small businesses" and to help lessen financial burdens on their husbands.The mass wedding programme has helped boost Kano’s economic development by providing work to furniture makers, hospitality workers and textile traders, Yusuf said.Mass weddings are often popular among women because they ban divorce without the wife’s consent.
October 16, 2023 | 11:44 PM