No fewer than 20 out of the 125 mass marriages contracted and sponsored by the Sokoto State government in January, 2014, had collapsed, an official has disclosed.

Alhaji Aliyu Kofar-Rini, the Chairman of the state’s Sunnah Marriage Mediation Council, the organiser of the marriage, disclosed this in Sokoto on Saturday while commenting on the current state of the marriages.

He told news men that the state government had in January, 2014 spent over N30 million in sponsoring the mass marriages of 125 couples.

“The state government paid the dowries and provided all the wedding cloths and materials for both the 125 grooms and 125 brides.

“Out of these marriages, 20 had since collapsed leading to divorces, sequel to mainly unemployment and other problems such as incompatibility of the couples,’’ he added.

Kofar-Rini also said that the council was now working round the clock to ensure that the remaining 105 mass marriages were saved from failure.

The chairman also said that the council had concluded arrangements for the conduct of the second phase of such marriages among 250 couples