Stop Marriage Registry Extortion In Nigeria.

Some times, I sincerely wonder if some Nigerians have a convenant with corruption �. In this article, I will be detailing my horrendous experience, brazenly fettered extortion and the unpleasant situation couples and their families are subjected to at the Ikoyi Magistrate court.

To start with, let me list the official payments you are entitled to make and justapose it with the myriads extortion and attendant intimidations of submitting your application without an agent.
Documents needed are:

Application form
Passport photograph
Form of Identification eg Passport
Bachelor/Spinster affidavits
Birth certificate
State of origin

Kindly note that you can't bring in your photographer neither your make up artist. There are even claims that even when your photographer sneaks in, you will still have to pay their own photographer #3000 which I paid as well.


#15000 for your application

#1500 each for couples to make their swearing of affidavits of either bachelorhood/Spinsterhood or marriage declaration.

#500 for photocopy and printing

In sum that's an average of #18500 plus #500 miscellaneous.

Kindly follow my narration as I journal and recount my experience- this echoes and reflects other people's frustration.

Recall, there was a high sensitisation to address Nigerians to go online and make their marriage application as against the conventional physical registration (which is mostly carried out by some official & lurking agents). Consequently, this didn't augur well with most of their officials and agents in the ministries as they make a lot of money from each person. On average, over 100 plus ( general survey says 200) marriages are conducted in a day and when you put your calculator to test to see the massive gain they make per person, you will realise where the greedy officials avarice emanated from. If an agent wants to help you make the application, you will be charged #28,000 on the average. With about 200 marriages , and with a difference of #9000, that's around #1,800,000 made daily illegally. However, the concern is not against the agents but the indirect victimisation of those who chose to do the application themselves which is most likely due to paucity of fund considering other attendant expenses accompanying marriage in today's world or to avoid mistakes from agents.

Journeying down to the day I went to make enquiries and submit my application form, I realized another level of pandemic (corruption) bedeviling this nation Let me fast forward this narration. After entering one of the offices to submit my form, I saw one man addressing people with insolence. He tout and protrayed himself as a demi-god because of the position. "Carry that stone and put behind the door", at first, I was disturbed with the idea of telling an applicant to carry stone and put at the door while he also addressed someone that he stood there like someone unserious, "Iwo Duro be bi .....". I was honestly irritated by their conduct. Well, that's a quintessential character of most government workers when you need help in their offices.Though, Immediately, I rebutted that thought knowing that I wouldn't dear to treat people that way even as a government worker and there was even only one man around that place that feared God- he appeared to be a Muslim.

The climax on that day was when one of the women there made an intimidating statement and it goes thus: "E ma wo won lojo wedding won.....instead ko fun wa lowo Ka ba won shey, won fe mu wo le". "Won ma pe nbe". This literally means that "they don't want to give us money to do it....just see how they will stay late on their wedding day". I found this statement disturbing even though she was discussing with her guest who asked her why people were submitting there.

On the day of oath swearing, immediately after the lengthy verbose lecture-cum-counselling, we were asked to move to hall 2 for swearing where the extortion started from. We were asked to pay #500 for oath swearing. I earlier asked on the ministry website, and i was told nothing of such. As miniscule as this amount is, the overall value is significant. Moreso, no form of illegality should be espoused if we want to curb it in entirety.

On the day of the wedding, we were first greeted with some touts at the entrance who would intimidate you if you aren't parking your cars there because they must collect #1000 before you park. On getting to where I would pen my name down, I realized some names had been written even before few of the bearers arrived but I was unperturbed. We were asked to pay #1000 for issuance of certificate. Again, this isn't official because I asked from the ministry.
The first unpleasant situation of the marriage registry was that couples will have to rent chairs for #100 each because they provided a very small amount of chair (around 25 chairs for over 120 people). If you can't rent, then you either stand or wait for some set to enter first which takes time. My wife decided to use the restroom and was charged #50. Well, if it's for maintenance, it's fine only that I was only thinking if repeated visit will attract another #50.

After being called in, and series of verbose and repeated counselling, we were ushered in according to our names written. When I got to where to submit the application form that was first given to us that morning, the man to collect it asked in a somewhat friendly yet coercing way..." Ohun daa oga yi" which literally means "where is it?!" I was actually dumbfounded because I didn't know we would bribe at that place. I went back to my sit without giving him. When I got to my seat, I heard a guy beside telling his surprised wife that he paid the man #500. I started thinking��... I hope this man wouldn't drop my application because of that.....thereafter, I went back to give him the #500 to have a rest of mind. However, to my chagrin, I realized some people were just called in first ahead of others- my observation was that those people's agent had already put their files. Some were not even answering their names as they were either on their way or something else. Well, I told myself I was already there.

Again, we were called in one by one for documentation. After the documentation, the person attending to you will ask for some 'egunje' which is bribe. The person that attended to me asked politely and I was obliged to give her because she wasn't sounding coercing and threatening- she was unusually friendly like others. For example, the woman on the other end of my table forced those couples to drop money if not,....... She didn't finish the statement but that was pretty intimidating. She said she isn't the only one to spend it. Honestly, the height of coordinated extortion startled me considering that an article was written on this before and one could only hope it had effect on the proceedings there.

The last straw that broke the camel's back was the final wedding proper. Apart from the speedy crammed recitation by the official that handled the proceedings, the offering part and money for drink majorly spurred me into writing this piece because I have already let it slide. The brazen audacity and confidence to openly ask #5000 each from us (the couples and the two witnesses which is #20,000) is what I found startling. Initially, we joked and begged her to reduce it on the basis that we had no money left (within me, I knew this wasn't official money) I told her the amount I could afford but she insisted and immediately moved to call another couple. This means that if we can't pay #5000 which we haggled for few minutes, she will seize the certificate. My wife told me to pay her but I found it insulting to force us to a money she should have politely asked. Perhaps, if she had jokingly teased us, it might have been possible. I was furious though I concealed it. It became obvious that corruption is the new normal and if you aren't corrupt, you aren't normal in Nigeria. I concluded that the bribe they get there daily without being restricted emboldened and bolstered them to reap people off. Also, the level of tip off is a function of your bargaining or negotiation skills. Gosh!!! It irks me to think one's negotiations skills would be applied to open rip off.

I know most Nigerians passed this and they can identify with this narration. In fact, most of us would say "Nigeria is corrupt....let's just leave them, what can we do?!" The more we leave issues like this unaddressed, the more it grows. The country is hard and people aren't finding it funny. In fact, I was so irked that I felt like publishing the woman's face that insisted on us bribing because I have her pictures. The aforementioned average of #1.8million naira illegally made daily is excluding the #5000/couple money for drink extortion which amounts to #2,000,000. Everything sums to almost #4m made daily and #120m made monthly. This is a conservative fee and not even the extreme. Little wonder why the woman was complaining that she had few jobs on her table and that she wants more job. Which government worker wants more job??!!!

We seek change!!

Change cannot come under APC.

I'm really surprised at all this. Nigeria my country