The Hisbah Board in Kano has said over 4,000 prospective couples have registered to participate in the state-planned mass wedding scheduled for next month.
The board added that it had succeeded in selecting 1,800 couples, and they were already being scheduled for medical screening as part of the prerequisite arrangement of the mass wedding proceedings.
Hisbah Deputy Commander General (operations), Mujahid Aminuddeen, told Daily Trust that the selected couples would be subjected to HIV/AIDS, genotype and drug tests before being drafted for the sponsored mass wedding next month.
Mujahid said that though the state government intended to marry off 1,800 in the first batch, over 4,000 intended couples trooped to the board to get registered.
His words:
“The government has made provision for only 1,800, but we have received thousands that have indicated interest to participate in the mass wedding.
But when we briefed the governor on the issue, he assured us of the government’s commitment to continue with the programme. He even asked us to write and start processing for the next batch.
“After going through the applications, we would further screen the list to verify genuine participants and then forward it to the governor.”
He further stated that due to the recent economic downturn plaguing the nation, many people wanted to participate in the mass wedding, especially girls and women whose parents tried to marry them off but could not afford the cost of preparing the wedding process.
He advised the scheme’s beneficiaries to live in harmony, adding that those who divorce their spouses on flimsy excuses after the marriage would be made to pay back what the government expends on their wedding.
It would be recalled that the administration of the state government earmarked over N800 million for mass weddings to procure furniture, food items, clothing materials, dowry, and capital for 1,800 intending couples under its mass wedding scheme.
