Date: 2016-08-20

No fewer than 38 divorce petitions were filed in courts in Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara between January and August, 2016.

Some of the reasons adduced for the petitioners, included lack of love, desertion, uncaring attitudes and assaults.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 28 petitions were filed at the Area Court while the remaining 10 were at the Upper Area Court and High Court.

Similarly, 15 marriages were dissolved, 11 amicably resolved, while 12 others were still pending. NAN checks revealed that incidence of petition for divorce in the area was on the decline compared to the 46 of such petitions filed within same period in 2015.

NAN also learnt that incessant irreconcilable marriage differences had become a source of worry to magistrates and judges in the area. An Area Court judge in Omu-Aran, Mr Abolade Banigbe, said the menace had continued to pose serious challenges to the judiciary in the community.

Banigbe said the nation's challenge of insecurity was further compounded as the number of youths involvement in crime occasioned by marriage dissolution was on the increase. "Such had become a big problem for all the tiers of government to address and accord top priority in the interest of national development," he said.

Banigbe called for the strengthening of the Citizens Mediation and Conciliation Centres in the state capitals to ensure prompt and amicable settlement of marriage differences. He also called for the establishment of branches of the centres at the grassroots for easy access to their services.

Banigbe urged couples to learn to respect the vows and tenet of their unions to avoid unwarranted litigation. "Its when the people of the communities chose to imbibe peaceful coexistence that we can also have peace of mind as judges and magistrates serving in the localities," he said. (NAN)