Lawyers decry high rate of divorce

Some Abuja-based lawyers on Tuesday decried the high
rate of divorce, and blamed the development to
unpreparedness before going into the holy matrimony.
The lawyers who spoke in separate interviews, said
many people marry without knowing the `dos and don’ts’
of the marriage institution.
A record of divorce obtained from an FCT High Court
showed that 24 divorce cases were filed from January to
March in that court alone.
Mr Abdulkarim Shaibu, a lawyer said that a lot of people
that go into marriage now do not understand what
marriage was all about.
“What you see at times are marriages arranged by
parents for their children, this is mainly among the elite,
and they tend to dictate to them how to live their lives.
“The consequences are what we see playing out now,
where couples cannot tolerate one another because
there is always a third party in the marriage.’’
Shaibu said that most couples were not prepared to face
the realities, “from the beginning they already made up
their minds on something, mainly wealth, and if not
there, the marriage will not stand.’’
He stressed the need for parents to educate their
children on the challenges in marriage to enable them
take the right decision.
Another lawyer, Christie Nwaka, said not knowing what
one wanted could lead to break down in marriage and
finally to divorce.
“People are always deceived by physical appearances or
wealth, and there are usually serious challenges when
people who come together because of mundane things
are confronted with serious issues.
“Another serious issue in marriage which people refuse
to talk about is sexual intercourse, it can break a
marriage when it is not properly addressed and lack of
communication between couples too,’’ she said.
Nwaka urged parents to allow their children to run their
homes in their own way and stop interfering in any
negative way.
“Marriage as an institution should be respected, and the
only way to do that is to teach and prepare those going
into marriage on what marriage is all about and how to
make success of it,’’ she said.