Lagos State Government has reopened the marriage registries in its 57 councils.
Performing the exercise on Tuesday at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium at the State Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, Head of Service (HoS) Mrs. Folashade Adesoye said the registries were constitutionally recognised for marriage ceremonies.
The event, she said, followed a ruling of a Federal High Court in Lagos, affirming the registries’ power as authentic organs of the government charged with conducting marriages.
This, she said, had debunked the notion that only marriages contracted at the Ikoyi Registry were valid.
According to her, the judge pronounced as illegal, all marriages contracted at the Ikoyi Registry since 2005, until such couples approached the local government registries to validate the consummation of their marriages.
Adesoye, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Public Service Office, HoS Office, Mr. Samson Ajibade, said the judgment had restored confidence in the marriage certificates already issued or to be issued in future by the council registrars.
She said: “As we relaunch the marriage registries, let us put in place sensitisation programmes, awareness campaigns and publicity on various platforms to encourage intending couples from Epe, to Ikorodu, Badagry, Ikeja and Lagos Island to patronise registries closest to them.”
The HoS called for the establishment of a reliable database accessible online, from where embassies and related organisations could get information concerning the legality of marriage certificates procured at the council registries for travel purposes.
Local Government Service Commission Chairman Alhaji Babatunde Rotinwa said with the relaunch, the registries would become veritable source of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in their councils.