Mass Weddings: Kwakwasiyya foundation supports 760 couples

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By Ibrahim Badamasi

Kwankwasiyya Development Foundation, an NGO working to alleviate poverty among low income families in Nigeria, has provided food items and cash support to the 760 newly married couples who benefitted from the recent batch of the mass wedding program of the Kano state government.

The Kano state mass wedding program was introduced by the then Governor of Kano state, HE Rabiu Kwankwaso, over 5 years ago to help eligible men and women who are interested in getting married but either could not get suitable partners or do not have the means to get married due to poverty.

Salamatu Usman, one of the beneficiaries of the support is a newly wedded bride who told African Newspage that she was so excited about the support given to them.

Inuwa Yusuf, another beneficiary and a newly wedded groom thanked the founder of the Kwankwasiyya Development Foundation, H.E Rabiu Kwankwaso (the senator representing Kano central at the National Assembly) for the food and cash support.

Altine Abdullahi is the executive director of the Voices of Widows, Divorcees and Orphans Association of Nigeria (VOWAN) who said the idea behind the mass weddings and providing support to the couples was to ensure more people have the opportunity to get married and start a family which helps curb social vices like prostitution in the society.

Divorce rates are very high in northern Nigeria hence the idea of the mass weddings is to provide social and financial security to especially women who get divorced by men at the slightest of provocations.  Marriages brokered by the Kano state government could only be dissolved with the government’s permission.