Late marriage used to be a rare occurrence amongst the Igbo but not anymore — Anayo Nwosu

By Anayo M. Nwosu

I could remember that year vividly. It was in 1982 when my mom sent me to market to buy her Okra at Nkwo market.
I had followed her on several occasions to same market to purchase foodstuff and she had reasonably assumed that I had learnt her buying patterns or sense.

To my mom, at my age and exposure, errand was supposed to be an easy task.

Taking a cursory look at the Okra pods I bought, my mom released two quick and successive thunderous slaps on my cheek shouting "how do you expect me to cook with these over-aged Okra?"

She ordered me to "return all pods to the seller, Mama Akuafia, and ask her to give you Okra suitable for soup making. Utufuluku!"

Of course, I returned in time from the market  with not-so-matured but tender okra pods which my mom adjudged okay for soup making.

The lesson still sticks till today.

I also learnt from my mum that the bones of an over-aged hen are very hard to masticulate or chew and could crack the teeth of an old woman.

For my mum, Okra and hen are more useful at their prime not when they have over matured or too old to be used.

Most old women in my village believe that even the womb of a mature woman conceives fibroid when it is not given a foetus to carry.

My town women also love to nurse their grandchildren at Omugwo or at the very first days of their infancy.

Also, it was a wide belief in my place that a man who waits till old age to marry is selfish. He doesn't plan to train or raise his children to adulthood. He also needs a helper to satisfy his wife when he can no longer arise.

That was the same reason why Mr. Okenkwucha  had asked Dr. John Nwayo, a 56 years old multiple PhD holder who spent his youth acquiring degrees and suddenly realised that he needed to marry, to perish the thought of marrying his daughter.

Mr. Okenkwucha told Dr. Nwayo to "go to Ikedife Hospital, straight to the maternity section, and ask any nursing other with a girl-child to give you her baby for a wife.

"Idiot! You want to die on top of my 20 years old daughter? You should have acquired more degrees at Fernanda Po before returning home. Anu ofia!" Mr. Obiora thundered as he turned back Dr. John Nwayo and his entourage away from his house.

Before now in Nnewi, it was difficult for parents to give away their daughters in marriage to a 40 year old single man.

A thorough enquiry would be conducted to ascertain why the dude was still single.

Once a man attained the age of marriage,the mother would do all including borrowing or pledging a farmland to a creditor to raise money to marry for the son.

The male beneficiary of a marriage loan was expected to work hard to reclaim the land by repaying the loan.

This kind of loan is called "ido ani n'ibe".

Also, no man was expected to marry before the elder son(s) of his mom. The man eager to marry would have to sponsor the marriage of his older ones before he would be allowed to marry.

The social structures above ensured that men married at the appropriate time.

There were males that were not bothered even if they remain single. This class includes the nondescript or "efulefus"; semi-mad, completely mad and the imbecile.

Some of the people in this class were allowed to marry under some conditions.

They would have a wife in nomenclature but not in reality. Some other relations would be detailed to handle the procreation assignments as the kinsmen would not want a recreation of the undesirable traits of the apparent husband in "his" kids.

In Nnewi of old, beauty was not the main reason why a Nnewi woman would be about 40 years and still be happily single.

It never happened where a daughter's mother is "awake as fish".

Something must be responsible.

Before 1988, almost half of the 18 year olds in  school certificate class would have been betrothed to one man or the other.

Many who would insist on furthering their education would do so with a ring in either of their fourth or third fingers.

In the society when my mother and her mates were in charge, almost all these ripe single ladies in my town would have been liened to theornfuture husbands many years before now.

I don't know what happened to our marriage enabling structure.

So many of our young men and women are not being assisted to marry because we have become more educated and civilized.

These days, I hear our girls, especially the working class and high salary earning cadre, say that they are single and happy.

Some of our marriageable youth now find virtue in Baby Mama and Baby Papa appellations.

We must fix this problem.