FG insists worship centres must get wedding licence, CAN fumes

The Christian Association of Nigeria has taken a swipe at the
Federal Government over its insistence that places of worship must
obtain licences from the Ministry of Interior before conducting
weddings under the Marriage Act.

CAN’s Legal Adviser, Samuel Kwamkur, in an interview with one of
our correspondents on Tuesday, said the Federal Government had an
ulterior motive for insisting that churches must obtain licences
from the Interior ministry.

CAN stated this just as the Ministry of Interior told The PUNCH
that statutory weddings conducted in places of worship that were
not licensed by it were not legal.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Georgina Ehuriah,
had at a stakeholders’ conference on Wednesday last week, said that
only 314 worship centres in the country were licensed to contract
statutory weddings.

Ehuriah had stated, “Presently, only about 4,689 licensed places
of worship in Nigeria have updated their records with the Ministry
of Interior of which only 314 have renewed their licences to
conduct statutory marriages.

“The implication of this is that marriages conducted in
unlicensed places of worship are not in line with the Marriage Act
and cannot serve legal purposes when the need arises and such
unlicensed places of worship are operating contrary to Section 6(1)
of the Marriage Act.”

She had said arrangements were going on to give couples whose
certificates were not issued in line with the Act the opportunity
to bring them to conformity.

Worship centres in 15 states lack licence

The data obtained on Sunday by one of our correspondent from the
website of the Ministry of Interior indicated that worship centres
in Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano,
Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara states did
not have the legal authority to conduct wedding under the Marriage
Act.

It was also observed that no mosque was among the worship
centres licensed by the ministry to conduct weddings.

The interior ministry spokesman, Mohammed Manga, explained to
one of our correspondents, why no mosque was on the list of worship
centres that had licences to conduct weddings.

According to Manga, the monogamous marriage, which is statutory,
is regulated by the Marriage Act, 2004, while polygamous marriage
preferred by Muslims falls under the Customary and Islamic
Laws.

He stated, “Statutory marriage is an item under the exclusive
list of the Federal Government, therefore no state House of
Assembly can legislate on marriage except those contracted under
the Customary Law or Islamic Law.

“A statutory marriage is defined as the voluntary union for life
of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. Thus, the
procedure, the role and functions of key players in the conduct of
statutory marriages are purely constitutional and guided by
relevant laws i.e. Marriage Act Cap M6 of the Laws of the
Federation of Nigeria 2004, as amended,” the spokesman
explained.

Worship centre branches can’t use headquarters’
licence – FG

He also said a licence obtained by the headquarters of a church
was not applicable to its branches nationwide, explaining that the
approval given to a place of worship does not cover its
branches.

He added that all branches must obtain their licences on merit
but on the recommendations of their headquarters.

He said, “Although the celebration of monogamous marriage in
Nigeria is regulated by the Marriage Act, such marriage is usually
referred to as statutory marriage.

The ministry spokesman further referred one of our
correspondents to a note on the website,
www.ecitibiz.interior.gov.ng which stated, “If your place of
worship is not listed, then the place of worship is not approved
and licensed to conduct legal marriages in Nigeria under the
Marriage Act CAP M6 LFN (2004) of the constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.”

The website also admonished intending couples to ensure that
their place of worship was approved and licensed by the Ministry of
Interior to conduct marriage.

Directive on marriage licence
unacceptable –CAN

However, the Legal Adviser of CAN, Kwamkur, who said he was
aware that the relevant laws provided for churches to contract
marriages, expressed concerns over the directive that churches must
renew their licences.

He argued that churches had been contracting marriages without
any issues, noting that the new directive looked suspicious, adding
that there might be an ulterior motive behind it.

Kwamkur said, “I think there is an ulterior motive towards that.
In any case, the registration by churches is done once and it is
done by their headquarters. So, the issue of going to renew their
licences to contract marriages is very strange, I don’t think it is
something the Church can accept. If not for the purposes of
travelling, I wonder why they are raising the issue.

“As a Church, we cannot be bound by what they are saying. We
have our registration, guidelines and records as churches and we
operate independently, so no government can coerce us. The validity
of marriage should be beyond the validity of certificate.”

Asked if CAN would challenge the ministry’s directive, Kwamkur
said the Christian body was still studying the situation and would
respond at the appropriate time.

He noted, “Why are they interested in Christianity? What about
Islam? Where are they (mosques) collecting their certificates?
Where are they registering their marriages? I don’t know why the
government is focusing on these issues instead of developing the
country. I think it is diversionary to cover for their lack of
performance.”

It negates principle of federalism –
SAN

On his part, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Babatunde Fashanu,
said it was an anomaly that the Federal Government, rather than the
states which are closer to the people, was in charge of
English-type marriage.

The SAN said, “When you are talking about the English style of
marriage, either in church or marriage registry, that is under the
Exclusive Legislative list for the Federal Government. But when you
are talking of Islamic or customary marriages, the state can also
handle those ones. That is the law, but my own opinion is that it
negates the principle of federalism.

Another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Norrison Quakers, said it
was time that marriage be moved from the exclusive legislative list
to the residual legislative list to give the states total
control.

But, a Catholic Priest and former Director (Church and Society),
Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Rev. Fr. Evaristus Bassey, said,
“Actually in the Catholic Church the code of canon law directs that
marriages should follow the laid down laws of the land. Even the
code recognises that not all churches are registered for marriages.
I think at some point, the government got confused and lax and
wasn’t issuing licences or printing the tripartite certificates
that churches use as well.”

Also, an Islamic scholar and lecturer at the Al-Hikma
University, Ilorin, Ustaz Sanusi Lafiaji, said the government was
overstepping its boundaries by seeking to regulate how weddings
were conducted in worship centres.

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