The Federal Marriage Registry in Ikoyi, Lagos State, is in shambles. And, that should be a big cause for worry, to the people put in charge to oversee the activities at Federal Marriage Registries across the country. As such, the Ministry of Interior under the leadership of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, as the Minister, should as a matter of urgency, set machineries in motion to arrest the shame of a nation being currently depicted at the Federal Marriage Registry in Lagos, before it goes from worse to worst. The truth is, it is no longer bad, but worse at the moment.
It was learnt by this medium that, unlike what was obtainable before now, mass wedding for about 30 different couples at the same time, is what is being done there now. Then, the question would be, how do you conduct weddings of about 30 couples within the small hall in Ikoyi, simultaneously without having issues? How do these couples amidst the crowd of other couples, take photographs that would be decent enough to be used for some form of documentation they might need to do with it now, or later in the future. So, for that singular act of mass wedding from the officials of the Registry, it simply means something has gone really wrong out there.
And again, it was understood in one of the online videos already damaging the image of the Federal Marriage Registries in the country in which a Wedding Registrar threatened to discontinue the administration of vows on a couple, simply because the groom smiled when the commissioner asked him to say that, he would forsake all other girlfriends for his bride. As a matter of fact, the Registrar in question who was supposed to be a friendly father figure to the young couple in the video emphasised that he was not joking with the couple as far as the threat he issued to them was concerned. And again, where does a Registrar derive the power to discontinue joining couples together in a legal wedding? According to Marriage Act, such power is vested ONLY on the High Court. So, the man definitely lacks the basic knowledge of his job.
And, the most baffling aspect of the whole sorry scenario later turned out that, the same Registrar in the very embarrassing video on which some witty Nigerians have inscribed the comment: "...when your father-in-law is the marriage commissioner", is said to be the new Registrar now at the Ikoyi Registry. So, one should not wonder any more, why things have gone the way they have gone at the Registry in Lagos since his resumption of duty. Call it a clear case of a square peg in a round hole, and you would not be wrong. That is a misfit, to say the least.
Hence, it is doubtful if such a man can really manage the affairs of the most patronised Marriage Registry in Nigeria, the Ikoyi Registry, without bringing it into serious disrepute. So, if the people in charge at the top are seeing the embarrassment the conduct of their man has brought to the Registry in Lagos, they should not hesitate in taking steps in restituting the situation before it is too late. So, it would strongly be advised that the immediate past administration be brought back . Because, findings have revealed that the Registrar that just left performed very well, as he was said to be on top of his job throughout.
Certainly, the videos of happenings currently at the Registry which have gone viral, are sad commentaries on how critical agencies of the government should not be managed. And, the ball is now in the court of the people saddled with the responsibility to remedy the situation to do their job. And they need to do it very fast.
This medium would keep tabs on the situation at the Registry, as things keep unfolding.
