\n<\/p>\n
The state government has spent approximately 1m naira ($735; \u00a3544) on each participating couple.<\/p>\n
According to the Hisbah, the support package a couple receives includes essential household items needed to establish a new home: beds, mattresses, bedsheets, pillows, furniture and food supplies.<\/p>\n
Each bride receives a dowry of 100,000 naira, while a further 100,000 naira is provided as start-up capital to encourage small-scale entrepreneurship and help the couple achieve financial self-reliance after marriage.<\/p>\n
All intending couples must undergo comprehensive medical examinations – including tests for HIV, hepatitis, pregnancy and genotype compatibility – before being cleared for the programme.<\/p>\n
Aminudeen revealed that some couples had been disqualified after being discovered to have altered their medical test results.<\/p>\n
In one case, an intending bride was found to have presented her brother as the groom in an attempt to benefit from the scheme.<\/p>\n
Local journalist Yusuf Ali Abdallah, who has covered the mass weddings for years, said Nigeria’s struggling economy had been fuelling desperation among the applicants this year.<\/p>\n
“As we all know, marriage involves spending money and the country’s economy is not bright at the moment,” he told the BBC.<\/p>\n
“This makes some people desperate to get on this list.”<\/p>\n
One couple who were already married had even attempted to present themselves as an intending pair before being detected and removed from the programme, he said.<\/p>\n
Other charlatans have tried to take advantage of those desperate to get on the sponsored list, which was made public two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
One Kano resident, who asked to be anonymous, said he had been asked to pay a bribe to get on the list.<\/p>\n
“But to be fair to the organisers, I later found out those who asked me for money were not Hisbah staff,” he said.<\/p>\n
He and his fianc\u00e9e failed to be chosen for this August’s wedding but he said he would try again next year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n