Abuja Residents Identify Causes of Divorce

Some residents of Abuja on Monday identified some causes of divorce among couples.
In separate interviews, they cited infidelity, lack of commitments, carelessness and undermining the importance of dialogue in dispute resolution, among others, as some of the causes of divorce. They noted that most of the causes of divorce were avoidable by respecting the law of marriage and being faithful. For instance, Mr Michael Eke, a civil servant with Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, identified insubordination, wife battery and interference from outsiders as other causes of divorce. He advised couples, especially those with crises in their relationships, to imbibe the culture of dialogue in resolving matrimonial issues and save their marriages. Eke said that the effects of divorce were indicated in the children of such affected home, insisting that such children were often delinquent. “Children from such homes are prone to abuse such as child labour and rape, among other social vices, especially the females. “Most couples take things that matter most for granted and a marriage that is taking for granted has a good chance of ending in divorce,’’ he observed. Eke said that marriages could be protected from crumbling if the couples had the fear of God in their dealings. Sharing similar sentiments, Ms Joyce Chukwuma, a staff member of Federal Ministry of Information, Abuja, cited infidelity, religious differences and infertility as parts of the causes of divorce in some cases. She urged couples to shun extra-marital affairs to build a lasting family and decent society, noting that divorce “builds up slowly when people overlook things that matter most. “Lack of commitment to the principles of marriage has also been identified as one of the factors leading to divorce. “When partners seek physical and emotional support elsewhere; when one party is not ready to forgive other, then divorce comes in. “The social effects of this (divorce) for the children can be traumatic as they may feel unloved or isolated’’. In her opinion, Mrs Mariam Abdullahi, a house wife in Abuja, urged couples to avoid misunderstanding, advising them not to always look for faults. “When couples start listening to what people are saying, they can start having issues which, if not well tackled, can lead to divorce,’’ Abdullahi said. She called on couples to dwell more on the culture of togetherness, cooperation, making win-win decisions and preventing anger from degenerating into break up in relationships. To reduce the rate of divorce, Mr Obinna Okemuo, a banker, advised that potential couples should go into marriages when they were primed for the union. According to him, getting married at a very young age increases the likelihood of divorce because those who marry in their teens have much higher divorce cases.