SCARCITY OF HUSBANDS AND THE SOLUTION The issue of scarcity of husbands has become very serious. Some ladies are now carrying placards seeking for husbands. One lady says “No age limit”. Any man at all is good for her. What is the solution to this social problem?The issue of scarcity of husbands became so serious in the African country of Eritrea that the Government passed the bill into law and made it compulsory that every man must marry at least two wives or go to prison for life. Imagine. Life imprisonment for not marrying at least two wives! Mobin Media was informed that the Government provides some assistance to the families.
In 2014, President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the law making polygamy legal in Kenya under statutory law. Consequently, men can marry many wives in Kenya under Civil Law just like under Customary Law. Before the bill was signed into law, there were many debates and oppositions against it.
Archbishop Timothy Ndambuki from the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) opposed the bill for violating the principles of Christian marriage. Nevertheless, the Government decided that marriage is marriage whether under Christian law, English law, Jewish law, Islamic law, Customary Law, or Native laws and customs of the people. It is a social and cultural matter. Therefore, the President of Kenya signed the bill into law.
The effect is that marriage under the Kenyan law now enjoys the same rights as marriage under Customary Law as well as marriage under the Marriage Act (Christian marriage). Any man can now decide to marry many wives whether under Customary Law or Civil Law. Nigeria does not require such a bill because Nigeria recognises Customary Law marriage where a man can marry as many wives as he can maintain and care for, and Sharia Law marriage where a man can marry up to four wives. The countries in the world where polygamy is lawful are Nigeria, Bangladesh, Algeria, Iran, Gambia, United Arab Emirates, Senegal, Malaysia, India, Australia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Philippines, Malawi, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Gabon, Liberia, Egypt, Uganda, Cameroon, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Libya, Zambia.
The problem is that many women do not accept polygamy in Nigeria as it was practised by their mothers and grandmothers despite the shortage of men. The men are willing to take more wives but the women are not willing. The social problem seems to be caused by the women to themselves. This attitude has been blamed on the Christian Missionaries from Europe who brought the Religion and prohibited polygamy and made it part of Christian doctrine. MOBIN Media interviewed some Christian women who want to be anonymous on this matter to avoid controversy.
They said that Christian women prefer to allow their husbands to keep sidechicks provided they do not bring the sidechicks to their matrimonial homes. They also allow their husbands to have children outside by the sidechicks now described as “baby mamas” which is similar to surrogacy. It is not surrogacy but a type of contract because the egg does not belong to the married woman but to the sidechick and the child belongs to the man whose wife becomes the stepmother. They don’t want to call it adultery or fornication to avoid controversy in law where the people involved in the contract are two consenting adults.
This is like introducing the practice of concubines in the past where a man would marry his wive or wives but still have some concubines outside. It has been observed that in the Christian Europe and America which uphold the doctrine of monogamy, the men still have their concubines called Mistresses. The difference is that they are not lawfully married but they have children for the men. Now, what is the solution to the scarcity of husbands in Nigeria and other countries? Many single ladies are passing through terrible depression and emotional stress.
Is it better to encourage polygamy or sidechicks and concubines and baby mamas? Or, is it better to allow the women to marry themselves as lesbians? This is a no-go area in Africa. Lesbianism and homosexualism are prohibited in Africa. Under the Nigerian law, any person who participates in same-sex marriage will go to prison for 14 years. Any person who witnesses the marriage will go to prison for 10 years. In Nigeria and other countries of Europe and America, it is not a crime to have children by unmarried partners but the problem of not having a lawful marriage either under Civil Law or Customary Law comes at the time of inheritance. The children of the sidechicks, baby mamas, and concubines have no inheritance except gift intervivos, that is, gifts from their fathers in his lifetime.
It is only the children of the women and their mothers who were lawfully married to the man, whether under Customary Law or Civil Law, that shall inherit their father’s estates. So, what is the best solution to this social problem of scarcity of husbands?