By Godwin Ajom
A recent report by Premium Times, citing data from Divorce.com, a U.S. based platform that provides support for navigating divorce, revealed Nigeria’s divorce rate at 2.9% in 2023.
This translates to 1.8 divorces per 1,000 people with Nigeria ranking eleventh among the countries with the highest divorce rates, with many women becoming financially independent.
In response to the growing number of divorces, Gender and Development Action (GADA) has launched its first training program aimed at teaching traditional marriage values to children and teenagers aged 12 to 18. The initiative seeks to address the increasing instability in Nigerian marriages.
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Organizers in Calabar informed CrossRiverWatch that the decline in the core values of marriage has become a serious concern.
GADA stressed that the issue is not limited to Cross River State but is a global problem that requires consistent and deliberate action.
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Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo, Board Member and founder of GADA, explained: “We realized that a lot of the values that go with the traditional marriage institutions are gradually being eroded. People just go for the ceremony, they don’t go for the content as long as you wear a very beautiful dress and do whatever you’re doing. Marriage has happened and for us marriage is much more than that.
“In previous times, marriages used to be peaceful in previous times compared to now. For us anyway that we can intervene to get that life Long experience that is not based on Gender violence is something we must pursue; we studied the Efik Fattening room, what we refer to as the Efik finishing school, where girls are prepared for marriage.”
The Ex-Nigerian Ambassador to Ethiopia, lamented that, “But today all those things aren’t there anymore. Nobody does any preparations, people just go into marriages. So, it’s not surprising that marriages are cracking: so our hope is that by training a new generation of facilitators and councilors, we’ll put them in a position to respond to future marriage challenges.
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“We teach them on what some of the problems areas in marriages are like reproductive life, financial management, domestic violence, children upbringing and care, hygiene, home management, multitasking and so much more. The training is for men and women.”
She also emphasized that: “This is the first training, we have to first be sure that they are doing it and will be interesting for the long term, then we have to teach them about counseling, so when they see that there is a role, the next thing is they will pick interest.”
The training program attracted both male and female participants, with a focus on teenagers. Journalists, marriage counselors, and other stakeholders also attended the event.
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