Gift Joseph Okpakorese
Wealthy and renowned businessman, Ned Nwoko, has recently claimed that “marrying more than one wife is saving the economy.”
The questions running through the mind of most Nigerians in the Diaspora, as well as other independent observers, are; Has the Nigeria economy degenerated so bad to warrant such a comment from the business mogul? Are residents of the federation that poor and desperate such that they will willingly accept to go into marriage with already married men to alleviate their poverty? The craze for daily hustle and bustle and the principle of survival of the fittest has taken a whole new dimension to have warranted such a remark from Ned Nwoko.
According to the businessman and billionaire husband of the popular Nollywood actress Regina Daniels, he explained the reason behind his having more than one wife and preferences for younger women to be part of reaching out to the economy by helping such women cope with the recent hardship in the nation.
The billionaire politician made the above remarks during an interview session with BBC Igbo, whereby he carefully laid out the reasons behind his choice of polygamy to be economical. According to him, the average northerner has at least two wives, which he insisted helps the society by preventing the women from being promiscuous. In his words;
“The average Northerner marrying two, three, four women, they are helping the society because it is the economic downturn that has affected so many women who you see doing prostitution and all that.”
He continued by saying that “the fallacy of it all is that Christianity does not allow that in the South and yet, the average Southern man has 10 girlfriends.” He also said the polygamist nature of northerners has helped to increase their population and made them the majority.”
Ned Nwoko also argued about how exposure and enlightenment have contributed to the ideology of monogamy even though it was not originally embedded in the African traditional culture and beliefs. He remarked that “I love my culture as I know it, not as they are trying to dilute it. Igbo culture is wonderful and should be promoted the way it has always been.”
Moreover, he argued that “While taking a cursory look at the Nigerian population, in connection to what he referred to as the economy of marriage, he said that as an Igbo man with one wife, four children, a Northerner has four wives with five children each, in the next 10 to 20 years, you can imagine the population of the Northerners.”
Recall that Ned Nwoko was once caught up in a controversy involving an affair he had with his Zambian mistress a situation in which he openly came out to clear the air claiming that “She Is A Just Friend.”
