The federal government has reduced fees it charges worship centres for issuing marriage certificates to the public.

This was disclosed in a statement signed by the ministry’s spokesperson, Mohammed Manga, on Monday.

The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, was quoted as saying the fees chargeable on worship centres for licence to issue ‘fresh’ marriage certificates has been reduced from the initial N30,000 for two years to N6,000 yearly, “payable for five years in the first instance.”

This means a worship centre would now pay N12,000 for the licence for the same two years it would initially have paid N30,000 for. Also, the N30,000 now covers five years as against the earlier two years.

Renewal, others

He stated further that, “for the Renewal of Marriage Licence by a Place of Public Worship, the sum of N5,000 has been approved per year, payable for three (3) years at each instance, as against the N30,000 earlier charged annually,” the statement said .

The statement highlighted that the fees chargeable for Statutory Ordinary Marriage has also been cut down from N21,000 to N15,000 while that of Statutory Special Licence has been slashed from N35,000 to N25,000.

According to the statement, the changes will take effect from Wednesday July 1, 2020.

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Also, Mr Aregbesola in a public notice signed by the Permanent Secretary and Principal Registrar of Marriages in Nigeria, Georgina Ehuriah, said the adjustment was an offshoot of the recommendations made by ‘stakeholders’ at the conferences held across the country in the third quarter of 2019.

The Nigerian government in July 2019 introduced a new federal marriage certificate for all types of marriages in the country.

Ms Ehuriah had advised existing couples who do not have their certificate issued by the Ministry of Interior to visit the ministry’s website to recertify their marriage certificates.

According to Mrs Ehuriah, “not all places of worship are permitted to conduct marriages”.

She advised Nigerians to ensure that their marriages are conducted in places licensed by the Ministry of Interior.

A link has been created on the Ministry’s website; (www.ecitibiz.interior.gov.ng) to enable states and local governments access the ministry’s automation platform for services relating to the conduct of statutory marriages in the country.