FEDERAL GOVERNMENT APPROVES DECENTRALIZATION OF IKOYI MARRIAGE REGISTRY

“The Ministry of Interior is statutorily responsible for the administration of Marriage Registries, licensing of places of worship for celebration of marriages and ensuring that statutory marriages are conducted in accordance with the Marriage Act 1990, Cap 218, LFN and as elaborated in Marriage Act Cap M6, LFN 2004 as amended”..... Barr. Georgina Ehuriah, Perm. Sec, Ministry of Interior.

"Existing couples who do not have their certificate issued by the Ministry of Interior are advised to visit the ministry’s website to re-certify their marriage certificates. Emphasizing that not all places of worship are permitted to conduct marriages”. 

 

With a view to meeting the growing challenges for marriage registration in Nigeria, especially in the South West Zone, the Federal Government has approved the decentralization of the Ikoyi marriage registry by establishing the Ikoyi Marriage Registry Annex and two additional marriage registries at Ikeja and Ibadan respectively.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior and Registrar General of Marriages in Nigeria, Barr. Georgina Ehuriah, MON, made the declaration while declaring open a One-day Stakeholders Conference on Conduct of Statutory Marriage in Nigeria for the South West Zone, held in Lagos recently. 

According to her, “The Ministry of Interior is statutorily responsible for the administration of Marriage Registries, licensing of places of worship for celebration of marriages and ensuring that statutory marriages are conducted in accordance with the Marriage Act 1990, Cap 218, LFN and as elaborated in Marriage Act Cap M6, LFN 2004 as amended”.

She said that, “government is working towards the development of a comprehensive central database for all marriages as envisaged by the Act as well as general acceptability of marriage certificates issued by Nigerian Marriage Registries for all legal purposes, both locally and internationally”.  

Explaining further, Ehuriah stated, “that existing couples who do not have their certificate issued by the Ministry of Interior are advised to visit the ministry’s website to re-certify their marriage certificates. Emphasizing that not all places of worship are permitted to conduct marriages”.

“Nigerians are advised to ensure that their marriages are conducted in places licensed by the Ministry of Interior”, she said.

The Registrar General of Marriages in Nigeria insisted that it remained a breach of the Marriage Act if marriages are conducted by places of worship that have not been duly licensed by the Ministry of Interior as stated in Section 23 of the Marriage Act.

Ehuriah maintained that such unlicensed places of worship are operating contrary to Section 6(1) of the Marriage Act.

She noted that “any marriage certificate not printed and delivered by the Principal Registrar of Marriages is illegal and cannot serve the desired purposes when the need arises”.

“Marriage is an important institution that plays a major role in social stability and sustainability of humanity”.

“In realization of its importance, governments in every nation put in place administrative and legal structures to ensure the realization of these societal mandates”.

“In Nigeria for instance, this arrangement was put in place through the enactment of the Marriage Act in 1914, the same year the Nigeria state came into being.”

“Presently, only about 4,689 licensed places of worship in Nigeria have updated their records with the Ministry of Interior; 314 have renewed their licenses to conduct statutory marriages”, she said.

The Permanent Secretary who said that the Conference aims at providing a veritable platform for stakeholders to initiate concrete steps towards resolving all outstanding issues that have created unnecessary frictions between the ministry and it, assured that the Ministry will continue to provide the much needed leadership for the constructive resolution of all lingering issues.

Earlier in a welcome address, the Director, Citizenship & Business, Stephen Okon, said the conference was borne out of the need to meet the challenges faced by Nigerian couples as a result of wrong documentation of their marriages.

While looking forward to a harmonious collaboration among stakeholders, he called on them to share the knowledge gained with members of their various associations and groups so that awareness can lead to compliance on the part of the citizens.

It could be recalled that the 1st batch of the Stakeholders Conference was held on Wednesday, 24th July, 2019, in Abuja for Stakeholders in the Northern zone while the final batch of the conference  for the South-South and South–East Zone is expected to take place on Wednesday, 14th August, 2018 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.