Lawyers decry high rate of divorce

The lawyers who spoke in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said many people marry without knowing the `dos and don’ts’ of the marriage institution.

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. (NAN)