A cleric, Rev. Ayo Oladapo has urged church leaders to regularly organise marriage counselling and seminars in order to reduce divorce rate in Nigeria.
Oladapo, the state chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ondo State Chapter, gave the advice in Ondo on Saturday at the wedding ceremony of Mr Adetosho Adejumobi and Miss Duwon Eshofonie.
Oladapo, who joined the couple together, said that church leaders needed to harp on the importance and relevance of pre-marriage counselling for intending couple.
According to him, many couples are unaware of the basic requirements that can sustain a peaceful and blissful marriage.
He said that the church should be seriously concerned about the success of its members’ marriages.
The CAN chairman admonished couples to always be grounded in the word of God, which he said was the only effective way to sustain a marriage.
Also speaking at the ceremony, Dr Dupe Eshofonie, the Permanent Secretary of Ondo State Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said that marriage could only be successful when the parties involved overlooked each others faults.
Eshofonie, who is the bride’s mother, said that in spite of the challenges that might be faced in marriage, divorce should not be an option.
Earlier, the presiding pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Ondo, Rev. Michael Abodunrin, in his sermon, stated that marriage was only for matured people who must believe in the institution.
Abodunrin, who read from Hebrew Chapter 13 verse 4 and 11 Kings Chapter 6 verses 24 to 25 in the holy Bible, said that parties in marriage should not be forced or cajoled into it.
He, therefore, urged the new couple to use the Bible as their daily guide and life manual for sustainable peace and fruitfulness desired. (NAN)