Community adopts N50,000 as bride price

The Kutep Community in Tatum Local Government Area of Taraba has adopted N50,000 as the bride price to be paid on any marriageable lady regardless of the tribe or custom of the suitors.
Speaking on Sunday at the first Kuteb Nation Worldwide Thanksgiving Service in Takum, the President of RCCN Church, Rev. Risae Yakubu, said that the policy was aimed at ensuring that ladies from the area were made affordable.
Yakubu said that the rule applied to all irrespective of the tribe of the suitor or the background of the lady.
“People who used to fear marrying Kutep ladies because of the high cost of bride price can now come.”
“With the minimum wage already implemented by Gov. Suntai, your one month salary can finish it.”
He said that the thanksgiving was in appreciation of the fact that God had restored relative peace, prosperity and glory of the Takum Chiefdom.
According to him, people of all races could come to Takum and do their normal business and leave in peace.
He noted that among other things, God had restored love, trust and friendship between the Kutebs and the neighbouring tribes.
“We are delighted that our neighbours — the Jukun, Chamba, Tiv, Ichen, Yukuben, Igbo, Yoruba, Tigun, Ndoro and Hausa among others –, have joined us in this declaration of thanksgiving.”
In his address at the occasion, Rev. Dr. Caleb Ahima, who is the Secretary-General of TEKAN, with headquarters in Jos, urged religious leaders, traditional rulers, and politicians to guide the younger generation on the need for peaceful co-existence to bring about development.
“We need to tell God that the troubles of the past that destabilised this area will not repeat itself so that the ruins of the wars will be rebuilt,” he said.
In his remarks, Gov. Danbaba Suntai, who was the Special Guest of Honour at the occasion, commended the Kuteb Nation Worldwide for their initiative at ensuring that peace was restored in the area.
Suntai pointed out that returning to God was the ultimate and assured the people of Takum that the state government was prepared to cooperate with them to improve the lot of the people.
He informed them that the bill for all equipment supplied for the completion of the Takum General Hospital had been paid.
He said that the facility would be ready for use by the end of the year, while the hospital in Lisam, in Ussa local government, would be completed in the first quarter of 2012. (NAN)