Seriously? Jigawa Govt. plans mass wedding for widows & divorcees

The Jigawa State Government has inaugurated a 19-member Committee to organise a mass wedding for widows and divorcees in the state.

This is contained in a statement issued by Ibrahim Isma’il, the Public Relations Officer, Office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) on Tuesday in Dutse.

The statement disclosed that the SSG, Alhaji Adamu Abdulkadir, while inaugurating the committee, said the gesture was to checkmate social vices in the society.

The statement said that the Committee was to identify the total number of widows and divorcees in each of the 27 local government areas of the state.

According to the statement, the committee was to also obtain the beneficiaries’ consent for the marriage and trace and establish trade or profession of the male beneficiaries.

The statement added that it would also verify the health status of the widows and divorcees and their authenticity of adherence of the Islamic faith, among others.

It quoted the SSG as enjoining members of the Committee to discharge their duty with fear of God in view of the programme’s importance to the society.

The Committee has the Special Adviser to the state government on Religious Affairs, Malam Mustapha Sale, as the Chairman.

Other members are: the Chairman of the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Ado Sani, the state APC Women Leader, Hajiya Binta Farin-Dutse, among others.

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Mass weddings have become commonplace in Northern Nigeria recently. Over 10,000 signed up to indicate their desire to be matched up for the next mass wedding planned in Kano. Therefore, it is likely there will be a high number of signups in Jigawa too. The process involves the introduction of the women to possible husbands and leaves them to make the final decision.

In several states, both intending wives and husbands are pre-screened for HIV. In Kaduna last year, the couples were given grants to assist with the wedding and their new homes.
“Each of the 125 grooms was given N50,000, out of which a dowry of N20, 000 was paid per bride, N10,000 for wedding clothes and N20,000 for initial upkeep.”

“Each of the brides was also given a set of furniture, bed and beddings, and other household utensils,”
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Photo Credit: NAN Photo