Sokoto State Government on Friday said it had earmarked N32 million for the mass wedding of 100 couples in the state.

The State commissioner for Religious Affairs, Alhaji Mani Katami, disclosed this at the inauguration of the committee on Islamic Marriage Mediation in Sokoto.

He said ‎beneficiaries would be drawn from the 23 local government areas of the state.

He said the gesture was part of measures taken by the state government to assist less privileged members of the society.

‎Katami urged members of the committee to ensure fairness in the discharge of their assignment.

‎The committee, which has Sheikh Aliyu Kofar Rini‎ as chairman, was given two weeks to complete the assignment.

Members of the committee comprise Islamic scholars, government officials and representatives of the Sultanate Council, among others.

The Kano government had late last year married off 100 widows and divorced women in a mass wedding ceremony held in the Emir’s palace.

The marriage is the first batch in a series of mass weddings planned by religious authorities in Kano, sponsored by the government, to marry off the city’s bulging widowed and divorced community.

A total of 1,000 couples are to wed in the in the ceremonies, planned in ten batches.

The marriages were arranged by the Hisbah board, in a bid to reduce the number of women, widowed or divorced, and left to fend for themselves and their children. (Bashir Rabe Mani/NAN)

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