The Honourable Speaker, Niger State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Abdulmalik Sarkindaji has explained why he decided to foot the bills of the marriage of about 100 girls with their suitors in a mass wedding ceremony from his constituency in Mariga local government area of the state.
Sarkindaji stated that his decision to take up the responsibility of footing the bills for the marriage of these girls was borne out of his sympathy for the affected girls, some of whose parents were dead.
Also in a swift reaction to insinuations in some quarters that these girls were being given out in marriage against their consent, the speaker in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and communications, Malam Shamsudeen Lawal Binaira, on Sunday, in Minna, however, dismissed the claim, emphasising that over 50 percent of these girls, though have suitors, but their parents have no resources to meet their marriage expenses as required by their customs and traditions.
“The other categories are those that have lost their parents to insecurity challenges bedevilling the areas alongside other Communities in the state, have nobody to finance their wedding ceremony even though they have their suitors.”
Shamsudeen explained further that the “Majority of these girls are orphans who have lost their parents, including children of our gallant vigilante corps who lost their lives in the line of duty to suspected armed bandits and nobody wants to finance their weddings despite attaining marriage age with someone ready to marry them.
“These girls are not being married out against their will or that their husbands are being forced on them, they have suitors of their choice but only that the Parents and relatives do not have the means to marry them out.
“According to the tradition of Hausa, you cannot marry out a girl without accompanying her with some essential needs to make her comfortable in her husband’s residence like room furniture, such as bed, mattress, personal effects and kitchen utensils among others.
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“That is what these girls are lacking and that is the responsibility of the speaker of the State House of Assembly to have agreed to shoulder and bring relief to the parents of such burdens. Their parents have been postponing the marriage due to lack of the resources and the speaker decided to take over the responsibility,” the statement added.
Recall that the speaker recently offset the fees for this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) organised by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for no fewer than 100 candidates from his Constituency in Mariga local government area of the state.
In addition to this, all 100 candidates enjoyed free training for the computer-based test (CBT) to enable them to get acquainted with the knowledge and the use of the computer before the JAMB/UTME examinations.
“In addition to these, 137 indigent students from Mariga have so far benefited from the Speaker’s scholarship programme into various high institutions of learning.
“Again all the successful candidates in the just concluded JAMB examination will enjoy free sponsorship in their University education as part of the Speakers educational programme for youth in his Constituency,” he maintained.
