High Bride Price: a Price Bachelors Must Pay in Nigeria
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
Marriage in Nigeria as in other parts of Africa begins with what is known as introduction, this is very much similar to what the Europeans call engagement but with the difference being that an introduction never takes place without the presence of the families of the bride and groom to be. And this arrangement usually involves a kind of ceremony.
Bride price which ordinarily ought to be a token paid by man to his In-laws as pre-traditional requirement for marriage in Africa now sends Bachelors begging and panicking. Bride price also known in some quarters as Bride wealth is a particular sum of money paid to the parents of the lady he intends to marry or to the Lady’s family.
Please take note that in a typical African society such as Nigeria, this is different from what is called dowry. As dowry may be in form of items such as male goat, tobacco, honey, tubers of yam, clothings, umbrella, walking stick, box of clothes and host of others given to the lady herself or her family.
The examples of all these are found in yorubaland, south-west of Nigeria. However, the payment of bride price and dowry in the contemporary Nigerian society has become scaring for a lot of guys desiring to marry. The reason is not far-fetched. Family heads now request for more than what is necessry. Most of these family heads unreasonably issue out list of articles expensively impossible to gather, some of which may be in form of cartons of beer, and other forms of alcohol.
certain old men would then live on these beer. alot of traditional marriages have therefore been canceled owing to these sad developments leaving ladies who have attained marriagable age roaming around and most times taking to prostitution.
These family haeds in some cases behave like the ladies are going for sale. Look at Iboland where alot more is charges are placed on grooms simply because such brides are educated up to university level. what we now see in iboland, South-East of Nigeria are old Ladies who are unmarried because guys are scared of marrying from that part of the country.
Because what we have just discussed here separately has to do with what we call traditional marriage and not the English kind of wedding which may still conditionally required by the family, and considered much more expensive in some cases more than the traditional marriage itself which is more necessary, we there call on the governemnt of Nigeria concerned with culture to come up with laws that will give uniformity on amounts required as bride price and dowry to be paid by men desiring to marry.
Some people have expressed fears in some quarters in Nigeria that a time may come when Ladies would go begging men for marriage. A situation of recent developments in which Brides now contribute financially to their own marriages is discouraging and unafrican in culture.
we therefore appeal to the Authorities concerned in Nigeria to fashion out a way of addressing this problem.
