By
Comrade Ogor Mathias
&
Bestina Charity Frank
Marriage tradition in igede land is a great cultural heritage that highly defines the uniqueness of igede culture among other ethnic groups and tribes in Africa. Historically, the union of marriage across clans in igede land is sacared and seen as the most integral and rich aspect of the culture. Due to the high perception, belief and high esteem placed on marriage by igede people, a man or woman who at certain age fail to get married is labeled as “OLUKPO” meaning “Useless or a valueless being” such person is culturally seen as lesser being.
In igede ancient tradition, there’s no fixed age where one can get married or seen as due for marriage. During the days of our forefathers, man who has a large portion of farm land is considered as due for marriage as they believe he can take the responsibility of shelter and general welfare of his family therefore, age is never consider for marriage in igede land right from time immemorial. One doesn’t necessarily need to become a millionaire before he can get married which tenaciously has been the reason for cheap bride price in igede land in comparison with many tribes marital’s rites.
Pathetically, Early marriage is one of the major bane why igede nation is in extreme poverty. The incidence of early marriage in the land nowadays has caught our attention while the abject poverty is something that touches our hearts as we watch people daily striving to earn a living and make a better end. Undoubtedly,
Everything that has advantage also have disadvantage but we think the negative effect of early marriage is more than the positive side of it.
Marriage is far more than just love and good character but our generation get it wrong. There is a saying that,
Technology and socialization have changed the way things are done in those days and we need to move in the pace of this advancement.
Most guys without a liable job, without education, without handwork or business, without investment, without future ambition will just walk into marriage to produce children who are tools for peace disruption in the society. How can you Carter for their well-being? Then you end up bringing innocent children to suffer.
Early marriage should be considered in wealthy homes yet, in a wealthy home, the children barely endorse in such marriages like we do in igede land to be precise. What will a lady of age 18-21 be doing in marriage? What can such an underaged lady who has “no education, no handwork, no business or investment offer in a marriage? Why will the rate of domestic violence and divorce not be alarming when the child is not mature enough to handle marriage issues?.
Being a woman does not mean you should be a liability to your husband.
The most annoying thing is that, most of them are pushed into it by their parents while some went into it deliberately with the mentality that marriage is like bread and butter but unknownly to them marriage comes with huge responsibilities.
It is a lifetime commitment and no competition for marriage. Early marriage is also a form of child abuse and a core cause of poverty in every society that practice it.
Conclusively, to curtail the rate of poverty in igede land, early marriage must be discouraged, parents must stop pushing their children into early marriage and premarital sex must be avoided by teenagers. Get something doing because marriage is meant for adults who are capable of taking responsibility not for children. Igede kaha.
Wow ?