Institution of Marriage Faces Extinction, Former Envoy Raises Alarm

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

The institution of marriage is on its way to extinction while infantilism and criminal propensities are fast being accepted as the new normal, former Nigerian Ambassador to Mozambique, Albert  Omotayo has lamented.

The former envoy, who in a bid to strengthen family ties in Nigeria and ensure nation building presented a book titled: “Fifty Reasons Why I Love You” to the public, decried that the rate of separation and  divorce in the country is soaring, insisting that this could only be checked with true love and strong marriage institution.

Speaking at the presentation of the book in Abuja on Tuesday, Omotayo who was a Private Secretary to former President Olusegun Obasanjo when he was the Federal Commissioner for Works in the 1970s and later as the Head of State said the battle against marriage and the family is fierce and sustained, yet soft and elusive.

Ambassador Omotayo who also inaugurated Qoodrat Adebola Abeni Omotayo Literary Award (QAAOLA) in honour of his wife said: “The rate of separation and divorce is soaring everywhere. The socio-intellectual movements which articulate marriage to be bondage that must be broken are gaining more ground and their disciples are fast growing.

“The world is getting drowned deeper in the sea of consumerism and instant creation, the root of world-wide economic hardship and inter-personal intolerance which is in turn  pushing our humanness to a dangerous limit and making ordinary relationships increasingly more difficult  to maintain.”

The former envoy also lamented that values in all walks of life are being turned upside-down in a counter-cultural protest against “old culture and tradition.”

The retired diplomat said he wrote the book not only to promote good family value system in Nigeria, but to also appreciate his wife whom he noted staunchly believes in marriage institution and transparently lives it.

On why he inaugurated a non-profit organisation for his wife who is also an author, and who turned 50 on Tuesday, Omotayo said “The NGO is a literary award because the crusade is not about laws, it is about the reorientation of human mind which can be challenged and moved to change only through writings in all manners of genre”

In his remarks, a former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Zubairu Dada commended Omotayo for coming up with a book that touches on love at the family level and advised Nigerians to read the book which he noted is capable of strengthening family ties and creating a better society.

Omotayo’s wife, Abeni, who is a former Chairperson of Ekiti State Chapter of Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), said she would continue to impact on lives and not relent in her efforts at promoting literary arts. She commended her husband for being a pillar of support.

A former National President of Association of Nigerian Authors, Denja Abdullahi, Chairman of the occasion, Professor Vicky Sylvester, the book reviewer, Miss Salamatu Sule, all commended Ambassador Omotayo for writing the book, and also described his wife as a virtuous woman.