A friend of mine, who got married few months back after mine called me, she asked me and I quote ” my friend did you and your husband go to marriage registry for the court marriage ” my answer was in the affirmative. She further said, “kia your lucky that your man agreed to it, mine has vehemently rejected it and told me not to ever speak to him again over this issue “

I’ve heard where this has become a serious issue between couples, and would be couples. Based on this I was compelled to find out why most nigerian men shy away from statutory marriage.

Kemi- it is only an illiterate who wouldn’t want to engage himself into that, because he believes that once the marriage is contracted, he will no longer have any say on the ‎wife and she will use it at her advantage.
Alakem’s view – Because of divorce and the fact that the law will favour the woman,property wise.

llade- The only deterent is barring d man from taking a second wife cos he wud go to jail for bigamy. As for properties I tink it shud be shared equitably in respect to who contributed what while providing for what will be enof for the other spouses upkeep, I wud neva agree to any court in nigeria dat will will award a 50:50 sharing ratio when d man for instance contributes over 90 percent of d family’s assets. And mind u, liabilities n debts are also shared.

Outstrip -If a man (especially in Nigeria) tells you that he does not want to do the registry think then my sister run and don’t look back.

Mazaje Many Nigerian men due to their up bringing believe that a wedding that isn’t held according to their religious belief is invalid. A lot of muslims and christians hold that belief.

Outstrip -further said that ‎,very many Nigerians believe that the religious ceremony puts all the legal stamps on all marriages, after all they are tying the knot in the presence of men and God according to the beliefs they hold and that to them supersedes any registry marriage. . .Many Nigerians consider registry marriage to be invalid that is why we have more religious weddings than registry weddings in Nigeria. I have a friend whose family had to cancel his wedding because his girl that is an adherent of the grail message said she will only have a registry wedding instead of a church wedding, they didn’t want him to marry her in the first place because of her religion but when she insisted on having only a registry wedding his people vowed never to attend the wedding he had to cancel it. Religious weddings are more valuable to Nigerians than registry weddings. Very few people marry in the courts. The conventional weddings are the traditional weddings and the religious weddings.

Ola- We are dealing with a set of people that do not see the registry wedding as something that is valuable, most Nigerian ladies will prefer to marry in the church or according to Islamic tradition than in the court when given the choice, many see the religious weddings as the only legal wedding since they believe it is sanctioned by God. Religious wedding supersedes any registry marriage both in the eyes of the males and the females,it has more to do with culture than anything else.

Many people do not consider themselves legally married until after they have done the church wedding. Many people do not even consider the traditional wedding as legal as the religious wedding. The wedding certificates issued by religious institutions are seen as the paramount in Nigeria, as such even old couple still go back to renew their vows in the church if they hadn’t done it before. When I talk about culture I mean religious culture. Our people identify with their christian and islamic cultures more than their traditional cultures in Nigeria. People do not value the registry weddings because of ignorance as you said and also because most of them believe that religious marriages are paramount.

Aisha– if a guy ask me to get married at the registry, i will just look well to make sure i have crossed all t’s and i’s so i make sure he can bring home a fat bacon (LOL)so David bridal go pass money be that? how do i tell my 5000 friends am married? if a woman says registry, i can understand if a man says registry, ummm, that’s a no no grin grin na so you manage reach?

Mutter- A church marriage is not a civil contract. It only becomes one when it is affiliated to a registry and issues marriage certificates. As such it is not the church marriage in itself that is binding in law but the contract that emerges wit the signing of the certificate.

A registry marriage does not have any benefits over a customary one. In the sense that if after a customary marriage you marry another woman in court that also amounts to bigamy. Since Islamic law allows for more than one wife there is an exception here.

A registry marriage becomes important in issues such as custody of the children. However the law of the land where one lives plays an important role here and prevails over marriage laws of the various countries of the parties involved.

As regards inheritance it also plays a role BUT this only where the man has left a testament. In the absence of a testament you find a complicated mix up of statutory law and tradition. Remember also that under the Nigerian constitution there is no such thing as an illegitimate child.

Imagine a situation where a man marries in court and leaves his property to a total stranger!!! It might even be better of if customary law had prevailed in sharing the property.
Hence I assume that statutory marriage is only of a great advantage where the party wills his property in favour of the other spouse and children.

Ogb-‎ registry weddings are for naija women.‎ its all good to be starry eyed and in love and all, but if it all goes south – you are screwed without those documents check most of these society big men who grew up poor, esp those military administrators – their official wives are the second wives, who are married in the registry. the first wives are fked over without a registry wedding, if the man decides to take a second wife, nothing for u. she is the LEGAL wife. never mind if she is a thieving b–ch.women should push for the registry wedding , men should push to avoid it

Marriage at the registry is important, I see no reason why some people will consider it as tick on their skin. It is all about getting enlightened about it.

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