Northern Nigeria’s Mass Weddings As Catalyst For Poverty and Banditry

By Mobolaji Sanusi

“O young men, whoever among you can afford to get married, let him do so, and whoever can not afford it, let him fast, for that will be a shield for him.” — Prophet Muhammad (Hadith of Ibn Mas’ood)

In this contemporary epoch, when sustainable developmental initiatives that are driven by focused governance, prudent management of scarce resources, population control, and cultural development should be paramount objectives of public service, it is shameful that some states’ governments are setting aside outrageous sums of public funds to sponsor mass wedding ceremonies within their jurisdictions.

The northern part of this country is guilty of this misplaced policy priority and is sadly expanding its frontiers by the day. Governors in the region are promoting conjugal programmes for reasons that are unacceptably disturbing and untenable. The latest example is the recent announcement by the Kano State Government that it has set aside a colossal N1.5 billion to execute its upcoming mass wedding programme for 3,000 prospective couples from 24 of the 44 local governments in the state.

Kano State unfortunately began this unreasonable policy in 2012 under then-Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso. At that time, Kwankwaso’s regressive conjugal policy led to the deployment of state resources to unite a reported 100 screened couples.

Subsequently, this trend continued under the administrations of Ganduje and the current Governor Yusuf. By 2014, the government’s mass wedding exercise had increased to over 4,000 couples. Sadly, public funding for this policy in 2026 for a single ceremony has risen to N1.5 billion. Like a festering sore, this unedifying official example has spread across the northern region to states like Kebbi, Niger, Zamfara, and others. The detrimental consequences of this act far outweigh its proponents’ acclaimed socio-cultural relief and destigmatization objectives behind its introduction.

Regrettably, this misguided policy amounts to nothing but pure public consumption that is rooted in an obsolete culture that is not backed by any Quranic injunction. What makes this trend indefensible is that it is driven by parochial political sentiments rather than social cohesion, sound reasoning, or sensible economic imperatives. The governors promoting the policy in Kano, Kebbi, Niger, Zamfara, and other northern states have left the actual and pressing needs of their people unattended. They are now busy chasing a policy that clearly promotes procreation as grooming aegis for banditry and other societal vices.

How can any government use public money to sponsor mass weddings for youths who cannot afford to get married because they are either jobless, unskilled and probably unsure of where the next meal will come from? This state-sponsored conjugal arrangement leads to pregnancies and procreation that the couples are financially unable to cater for. One does not need a soothsayer to know that a major unintended consequence of this state-sponsored mass-wedding for financially incapable youths is that it will serve as a breeding grounds for destitutes and recruitment grounds for bandits. The fact is that Boko Haram, Lakurawa, and Mamudawa insurgent groups have become intractable problems despite the military onslaught is because there is a recruitment ground for membership. Products of such state sponsored conjugal arrangements are readily available for deployment by northern political cum traditional elites to illegally extract gold, lithium and other mineral resource endowments from the north in collaboration with unscrupulous foreign agents acting on behalf of powerful countries. Some of these northern children that are uncatered for, as teenagers, are transported to other parts of the country, and upon getting to their host cities, become destitutes, okada riders, and even bandits that cannot be sent packing simply because they are Nigerians with rights to freely move anywhere in the country. So sad.

Stopping this trend might be difficult. This is because what’s undeniably true is that in the country’s northern part, poverty is deeply entrenched, and this is reflected in the poor living conditions of the vast majority of vulnerable northerners. The Almajiri system operating in the region has left more children out of school, while obsolete socio-cultural beliefs discourage or impede most northern youths from embracing any form of education that could lead to meaningful transformation of their lives and society.

Ludicrously, economic opportunities remain hindered by questionable loyalty to obsolete tradition, and sometimes contentious religious practices. Yet, the political and traditional leadership of the North have failed to recognize that only bold transformational initiatives, not mass wedding schemes, can resolve these avoidable challenges that are holding the North and by extension the country, especially in the area of insecurity. For a North without sustainable development policies in place, hospitals only become active when the government shamefully directs its Ministry of Health to deploy scarce resources for the medical screening of sponsored prospective couples who have no visible means of livelihood with a high potential of becoming a burden on the state.

This is not commonsensical because this policy across the North encourages early child marriage and higher birth rates without proper inbuilt policy initiatives to handle consequential issues. To proponents of this policy, the alarming plague of maternal and child mortality rates means nothing to them. This is what Kano and other northern states’ governments are inflicting on their people. So far, there has been no meaningful northern policy pronouncement to effect health reform, women’s empowerment, rural development, or any compelling policy blending Western education with Islamic teachings. That is why northern Nigeria accounts for the largest share of out-of-school children and banditry in the country.

In promoting this public immorality disguised as mass weddings with potential peril to the state, the region, and the country’s population, northern states are playing a selfish game with serious security and socio-political implications for all of us in this country. On a final note, the nation’s immortal sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, while prognosticating on the dire consequences of disdainful treatment of future trustees of the country like the demeaning northern mass wedding programme, admonished: “The children of the poor you failed to train will never let your children live in peace.”

To governors and other erroneously assumed untouchable elites who promote almajiri, poverty, retardation and destitute-induced programmes, let them heed Awolowo’s warnings. Otherwise, the ongoing social upheaval might be child’s play.

•Sanusi, former MD/CEO of Lagos State Signage & Advertisement Agency, is currently managing partner at AMS RELIABLE SOLICITORS.(WhatsApp Only-07011117777)