When the news broke that the Chairman of Kukawa Local Government Area, Borno State, Mustapha Kukawa, organised a local government-sponsored mass wedding for 10 vulnerable couples in Baga and Doro communities, it was not shocking. Rather, it ignited a fresh conversation on the consequences of such a trend if sustained and replicated across a state just recovering from over a decade of insurgency.
The newly introduced program, as reported by The PUNCH on October 10 as a “first batch”, drew its inspiration from Kano State, where thousands of persons have reportedly benefited from a state-sponsored wedding.
Based on the social context, it was a good gesture, no doubt. Many believed it was necessary to promote morality and prevent social vices among youths in the communities.
After the wedding programme, the Kukawa media team released a statement saying that the local government chairman, Mustapha Kukawa, provided all necessary wedding requirements, including dowry, Waliyyi arrangements, kolanuts, sweets and dues.
The statement said in part, “This kind of state-sponsored mass wedding organized by Hon. Mustapha Mohammad Kukawa is the first of its kind in recent times in Borno State, and this is the first batch; the second phase will follow soon.”
However, while the media team admitted the programme was inspired by the Kano model of mass wedding, the disturbing part of the statement is the assurance that more are still coming.
This has drawn controversy, with critics arguing that in a state like Borno, where displacement caused by insecurity has rendered many youths economically unstable, what is more crucial is a practical means of livelihood that will enable the youth in rural areas to shoulder marital responsibilities, rather than simply setting them up with a sponsored wedding.
Critics also believe that for a state with thousands of out-of-school children, initiatives that will encourage mass and uncontrollable births may further worsen this situation, while exposing such children to hard labour and exploitation by extremists.
On the other hand, supporters of the idea believe that Borno State has lost many of its youths and children to insecurity, and the government must support initiatives like this to encourage lawful births that could improve the state’s population.
They also claim that some traditions in the state make marriage demands too expensive for modern youths to afford; as such, sponsorship, in the form of a marriage “subsidy”, may be another form of youth empowerment.
Amid this argument are the couples who will face the reality after the sponsored marriage, the children who will be born into either extremely or moderately struggling homes, the society that bears the consequences of state-sponsored marriage, either good or bad, and the government, which either sits back and watches the initiative be fully adopted by other local government chairmen or moderates it before it becomes another government-backed policy that backfires in the future.
Borno is not Kano. Kano has its history, and Borno’s history in the past 15 years has been largely shaped by conflict, resilience and recovery.
Therefore, emulating modern practices from other states should not just be a decision made by a single local government chairman. Such policy adoption must undergo intense scrutiny guided by laws and fully supported by the state government to prevent actions that will jeopardise the recovery efforts made by the state government in the near future.
If the government further delays regulations, other local government chairmen may emulate this practice, not as a gesture, but as a tool for local campaigns.
Such regulations are particularly important for several reasons, chief among which is the prevention of abuse and forced marriage. If the Borno state government has decided not to heed the call to stop this practice over preparedness concerns, then it must immediately set up a committee, not to limit people, but to ensure that beneficiaries are not people who will take advantage of state-backed policy to worsen the problems of out-of-school children, birth foot soldiers for terrorists, and abandon their parental responsibilities for the children to care for themselves.
Also, with the rate at which the state is experiencing formal and informal surrenders of insurgents, it is particularly important that women are protected and not to married off to persons with questionable background.
More importantly, the state needs a standard for who should benefit from such gestures: criteria may include level of education, potential, capability, and community attestation to the character of the selected beneficiaries.
Finally, the state must align this gesture with its advocacy for girl child education and empowerment. If local government authorities choose to embark on this practice, they must deploy more resources to ensure schools in their local government have basic needs such as chairs, writing materials, proper coordination, a conducive learning environment and other forms of support to encourage enrollment and economic empowerment.
- Ojo, a journalist, writes from Maiduguri