Over 4,000 {couples} who’ve applied to be wedded at the Ikoyi Marriage Registry in Lagos State must await a while to put a legal seal on their union.
The Ministry of Interior, runs the marriage registry, ordered the suspension of weddings since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nonetheless, those that may wait have been being given the choice of “change of venue” at an additional value of between N30,000 and N50,000.
In line with an applicant, spoke on condition of anonymity, the “change of venue” option entails that the couple will name a place of their choice where the registry officials will come to conduct the wedding.
The applicant stated he had applied to be wedded at the registry since early June and after paying the official N33,000 and filling all of the required forms, he received an e-mail informing him that his oath taking could be on June 14, whereas the marriage could be June 15.
Nonetheless, on attending to the registry on June 14, he was instructed that due to COVID-19, the registry suspended the conduct of weddings till further notice.
The applicant stated, “But when I complained that they should have sent me another mail to inform me about the change, they said it was government policy.
“The man, who spoke to me, said I was not the only one, that they had over 4,000 applicants, some of whom had been waiting since March. He said if I could wait, they would contact me when they start conducting weddings but if I could not wait, I could take the option of change of venue and that it will attract another N50,000.”
He stated, “They’ve suspended weddings. However you can do change of venue. It means you pay extra N30,000 and also give something to the officials that would come to your house. That’s if you can’t wait till when government lifts the ban.”
When our correspondent visited the Ikoyi Marriage Registry on July 20 to make enquiries, an accountant at the registry, confirmed the accounts of the 2 applicants, including the over 4,000 ready applicants and the change of venue option.
When contacted on July 23 to know if the change of venue option and N50,000 fee was official, the spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, Abuja, Mohammed Manga, by a WhatsApp message, replied, “ The official fee for change of venue is N30,000 only.”
