Sheikh Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa is the Commander General of the Kano State Hisbah Board. In this chat with ADAM ALQALI, he explains why the board is organizing mass marriages for widows, divorcees and even spinsters.
The Hisbah board has thus far successfully carried out four batches of mass weddings in Kano. What would you say prompted Hisbah’s decision to embark on the sponsorship of marriages which is hitherto not a responsibility of governments in Kano and northern Nigeria?
The Kano State Hisbah Board decided to embark on this project because of the high rate of divorce in the state which results in high number of divorcees as well as economic challenges which make it difficult for widows, divorcees and even spinsters to get married. Whenever you ask these women why they won’t marry they will say they are finding it difficult to get married due to economic challenges because for a father to be able marry off his daughter he will have to spend, at least, #500,000 to furnish the daughter’s house.
For this reason, there are so many unmarried widows and divorcees in the society as well as spinsters who have attained the age of marriage but could not get married, which will lead to immorality in the society. These are the reasons why the Hisbah Board decided to intervene so as to expose these issues to the government. So, we invited and discussed with women organizations and matchmaking organizations as well as interviewed about 800 women at the end of which we concluded that there was need for the government to come in and assist those women that want to get married but do not have the means which will help sanitize the society.
We therefore drew up a five point program. First, we talked to those that were interested in getting married. Second, we conducted match making for those couples who were not already in a relationship. Third, we organized orientation programs for them to expose them to what marriage life is all about. Four, we taught them the intricacies of marriage life. Five, having realized that poverty is one of the major reasons why marriages fail in our society; we trained them on various skills.
We submitted this five-point program to the governor who accepted it and agreed to sponsor the entire marriage process but since there was ever a time in Nigerian history when such mass marriages where conducted, we decided to start with a small number. We therefore screened 100 couples and the government paid for the entire cost of the marriage including furniture, clothing materials, food stuff, and make up while private companies and individuals also came in to support the marriages.
So, it was the success of the pilot phase that made us decided to organize another batch for 250 couples. There was a telecommunication company who gave all the 250 couples cell phones, airtime and SIM cards. As a result of the success of that batch, we organized another batch for 1000 couples which amazed the whole world and attracted the attention of the world media and so correspondents from all over the world were here to witness the event. They thought it was not possible for the marriages of 1000 couples to be contracted at the same time, but it was done successfully.
The next batch was for 1,111 couples which brought the number of the beneficiaries of the scheme to over 5,000 people. We have instituted a monitoring committee of women that are monitoring the various marriages we have contracted; they visit the houses of the couples and report to Hisbah developments in those homes including the number of children that are given birth to. I have here a record of the number of various children given birth to in the various local government areas of Kano state. In fact we also participated in the naming ceremonies and thus far about 260 children have been given birth to through Hisbah’s mass marriage scheme.
And if there are any problems in all these marriages, we are the ones to intervene and not the parents of the couples. Before these marriages are contracted, the couples have to undergo various health tests including that for genotype, HIV, Hepatitis and pregnancy, which is one of the huge successes of Hisbah’s mass weddings. Now that we have a new government we have proposed another batch for 2000 couples and the governor has agreed to sponsor it in the New Year.
The issue of reckless divorce is a recurrent phenomenon in northern Nigeria today, other than facilitating more organized processes of contracting marriages, is the Hisbah doing anything to reduce the incessant cases of divorce in Kano state, at least?
My understanding is that the situation is a result of ignorance of the concept of marriage by the people, in other places, there are marriage counseling centers where would be couple could go and learn courses at the end of which they may even earn certificates. We therefore think there is need for marriage to be integrated in the curriculum of our educational institutions otherwise NGOs should come up with such plans so that Hisbah can lead the process.
We already have 3 such organizations that have come to us to ask for the model we use and we have given it to them and they will be coaching and counseling would be couples the concept of marital life and co-existence in marriage. Secondly, the reason why the Hausas are known for high rates of divorce is also because adultery is still not very common among the Hausas.
The reason why the divorce rate is not high in other places is because adultery is common over there; this is to say a man can always have access to other women outside marriage; therefore he can afford to keep one wife at home, whether or not he is satisfied with her.
This is why the Hausa man will prefer to divorce a woman and marry another one if he is not satisfied with her, even at that, we are trying to let people know that they shouldn’t marry and divorce recklessly, because it is un-Islamic.
You have the right to marry but you should do so very carefully, so you will be able to make the best choice. Of course Islam allows for divorce but there are laid down guidelines including exhausting all avenues for reconciliation between the parties. And even when divorce becomes necessary it should be done in a respectful way and in accordance with established guidelines, the woman should be paid a substantial sum after the divorce.
Like you said, Hisbah is not only facilitating these mass marriages but is also monitoring the marital life of the couples after the marriage. Base on your monitoring activity, what percentage of such marriages have failed thus far?
There must always be failures. As such there are always disputes most of which we resolve ourselves. If we realized any of the companies hide certain vital information to the other before the marriage, we advise for the dissolution of the marriage. Someone may come to say that he has realized that his wife lied to him, after the marriage. For example, a man may realize that the wife lied to him about her actual age, which could be a serious issue in marriage. Another example is a case where a wife or husband is not being sexually satisfied with one another.
There was also a case of a man who came after the marriage to say he realized his wife had epilepsy and so wanted to divorce her, and upon investigation, we realized she informed him of the health condition before marriage as such we asked him to pay her N50,000, if he still wanted to divorce her. Therefore, in such cases we advise for peaceful dissolution of the marriage but out of the 5000 persons that were married through our mass marriage scheme there are only 100 or so cases where such marriages got dissolved, which is not a small achievement.
The Hisbah has introduced various compulsory health tests including HIV test, genotype and hepatitis for would-be couples to be married through its mass marriage scheme.
What can you say informed this innovation in a society as conservative as Kano’s?
It is something that happens all over the world and our people are also gradually becoming aware of the importance of health in marriage, other than one’s being morally sound. So, couples are now even going to conduct these tests willingly before contracting marriages.
Adam Alqali is an independent journalist; he can be reached on [email protected]
