FG Lists 12 Approved Marriage Registries in Nigeria

• FG Lists 12 Approved Marriage Registries in Nigeria

The Federal Government on Sunday listed 12 approved marriage registries across the country to dispute a previous publication from some local governments.

On Friday, September 13th, some local governments were quoted as saying Nigerians should ignore FG’s directive on marriage registries.

However, the Federal Government through the Ministry of Interior has stated it was the only tier of government permitted by the constitution to conduct and regulate marriages.

According to the list released on the ministry website, the 12 approved registries were Federal Marriage Registries in Ikoyi, Lagos State; Abuja, Federal Capital Territory; Benin, Edo State; Owerri, Imo State; Port Harcourt, Rivers State; Kano, Kano State; Jos, Plateau State, Enugu, Enugu; Kaduna, Kaduna; Ibadan, Oyo State; Ikeja, Lagos State, and Makurdi, Benue State.

In a statement published on the Punch newspaper last week, the Ministry of Interior said: “The attention of the Ministry of Interior has been drawn to the publication in the PUNCH Newspaper of Friday, 13th September, 2019, page 42 under the caption, ‘Marriage: Ignore FG’s directive, LGs tell organisations’.

“The Ministry of Interior is therefore constrained to issue this notice in order to properly guide the public on the issue of Statutory Marriages under the applicable law in Nigeria.”

The ministry further explained that it had the sole responsibility to grant approval to qualified places of worship as well as LGAs that abide by the provisions of the Act (Sections 4(2) & (5) of the Marriage Act).

The noticed added “It is observed that the local governments have deliberately misinterpreted powers conferred on them by item 7 (1) of the Fourth Schedule of the constitution.

“For the avoidance of doubt, item 7(1) states that the functions of the Local Government include: registration of all births, deaths and marriages. This provision is clear and requires the local government councils to maintain registries to register births, deaths and marriages for record purposes and planning.”