Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II has said polygamy is the chief cause of poverty in the Northern part of Nigeria.
Sanusi speaking with PUNCH said some men who can’t responsibly take care of one woman end up marrying three or four, and five birth to more children than they will ever be able to cater for.
He said this is a concern and is a plague that must be solved if crime and poverty will reduce.
Sanusi added that while the poverty percentage in the South is 20%, the North has its as 80% and the increase in population will lead to more of this distasteful situation if something urgent is not done.
“There are people who cannot afford to feed one wife but are ready to marry three wives and have more children than they can feed, talk less of paying for their school fees,” he said.
“The poverty level of the north is 80 percent, while in the south, the percentage is 20 percent, simply because of the culture of marrying many wives and producing many children who, at the end, are left on the streets to beg for what to eat.”
Sanusi added that some women get divorced by their husbands, and that makes matters worse, as they find it difficult to raise the children alone.
The emir asked northern universities to look into ways by which such a challenge can be tackled.
“The issues we have today such as drug abuse, Boko Haram, banditry and unemployment would be nothing compared to what we will be dealing with in the next 20 or 30,” he said.
