Low global oil prices have hurt Nigeria’s economy, taking it to the brink of recession. But the resulting cash crunch has also had a more unexpected effect - on mass weddings.
More than 10,000 women have registered for the state-sponsored programme in Kano, said Abba Sufi, director general of the northern city’s “morality police”, the Hisbah.
“At the moment we have over 10,000 women who have registered for the mass wedding programme and are waiting to be introduced to prospective suitors when the project resumes,” he said.
The matchmaking programme began in 2012 to help divorcees remarry in Kano state, which has the highest divorce rate in Nigeria.
Under the scheme, the state government pays the bride price and provides furniture and household utensils for the newlyweds.
A total of 1,111 couples tied the knot in an elaborate event at Kano’s main mosque in December 2013. At the time, the Hisbah said it had arranged 4,461 marriages since the programme began.
Nigeria, one of Africa’s main oil producers, depends on the sale of crude for 70% of government revenue but income has been slashed since prices plunged around the world two years ago.
State governments have struggled to pay public sector wages; the naira has weakened, causing a shortage of foreign exchange, hitting investment and key imports of goods, fuel and food.
At the same time, inflation has soared to nearly 11-year highs, with predictions of more devaluation to come and further rises in the cost of living.
“The cash crunch has compelled us to halt the programme, which has resulted in a huge backlog of women intent on getting the right husbands to marry through the matchmaking process,” said Sufi.
Hajara Umar, a divorced mother of three children, said she registered to find a husband two years ago but has been frustrated because of the lack of funding.
“We are not asking for too much, just the basic things we need to start a new married life,” she said.
Widespread poverty has been blamed for the rising number of divorces in Kano city and the surrounding state, as well as the decline in traditional marriage ceremonies between men and women.
The mass wedding project was seen as a solution to the situation and also at preventing Boko Haram Islamists from recruiting disaffected and impoverished youth for their violent insurgency.
The north’s conservative culture gives a husband absolute powers in marriage but men have often abused it and divorced their wives at will.