In Africa, we don’t marry for love, we marry for children – Senator Utazi

By our reporter| The senator representing Enugu North, Chukwuka Utazi, on Tuesday said Africans marry to have children and not for love.

The PDP Enugu lawmaker made the disclosure on the floor of the Senate while contributing to a debate on a bill seeking to prevent, control, and manage sickle cell anaemia in the country, sponsored by Senator, Sam Egwu.

According to Utazi, it pains to realise that an individual cannot marry his or her choice because of blood group.

Utazi said, “This bill is taking me down the memory lane because I’m an AS carrier and when I was about getting married, several years ago, I moved into this orbit and I know what I went through because I was in love. I knew the trauma. After that incident, for five years I didn’t come out of it.”

“So I am speaking from experience and I know how it pains that you have made a choice and you discover that the choice can’t work. Because in Africa, we marry for children, we don’t marry for love.”

Senate President Ahmad Lawan interjected at this point and said, “Senator Chukwuka Utazi, I think you should be speaking for yourself.”

But Utazi continued, “In the developed world, particulars of a child’s blood group is given at birth.

“A test is done to show the blood group, the genotype before leaving. In the birth certificate of the child, all those things are put in place.

“We should not be waiting for when people want to go and marry, that is when they will start checking their genotype and their blood group, it shouldn’t be.”

The bill subsequently passed second reading when put to voice vote by the Senate president.