Nigeria, Sept. 9 -- If marriage is important enough to warrant public investment, the success of that investment should be judged by the welfare of the family it helps create.

In August, the Kano State Government, in northwestern Nigeria, supported 1,500 couples through its Auren Gata mass-wedding programme, with beneficiaries drawn largely from low-income and vulnerable groups, including widows and divorcees. The support did not end with the solemnisation of the marriages: aside from the mandatory counselling and medical screening, reports indicated that couples received a combination of dowry and business assistance, and household items such as beds and mattresses. The state presented the programme as a social intervention intended to ...