Over 260 couples became happy parents of newborn babies after they got married in the Kano mass wedding during the last two years, the state Hisbah Board reported.
According to the Daily Trust, Kano state has sponsored about 5,000 marriages since 2012 when the programme was first introduced with 1,000 couples in the first batch. The divorced and widowed people across the state were among the first batch.
Hisbah commandant-general, Sheik Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa, reported this information when he received the Emir of Deba, Gombe State, Alhaji Abubakar Waziri Muhammad, who paid him a courtesy visit on his way to Saudi Arabia for the lesser Hajj.
“The state has married out a total of 4, 922 widows, and God has blessed the marriage with many children. So far, we have a total of 260 children from these marriages,” Daurawa said.
When it was first introduced, government said the programme was aimed at reducing the rising number of divorce rate in the state in order to provide the women with stable homes, financial and social security, and to reduce the number of those in the streets fending for themselves.
The marriage, which took place at the Emir of Kano’s place, was witnessed by thousands of people across the country.
The Hisbah Board had called for prospective suitors and subsequently screened interested candidates for HIV/AIDS before allowing them to get married. The state and local governments jointly sponsored the kayan daki.
It was made clear to anybody who married through this channel that he would not be allowed to divorce his wife without permission from the Hisbah Board.
Daurawa said the programme had been extended to neighbouring states like Katsina, Kaduna and Gombe.