Nigeria’s mass wedding – and how to tell lovers from fraudsters in Kano

The state government has spent approximately 1m naira ($735; £544) on each participating couple.

According to the Hisbah, the support package a couple receives includes essential household items needed to establish a new home: beds, mattresses, bedsheets, pillows, furniture and food supplies.

Each bride receives a dowry of 100,000 naira, while a further 100,000 naira is provided as start-up capital to encourage small-scale entrepreneurship and help the couple achieve financial self-reliance after marriage.

All intending couples must undergo comprehensive medical examinations – including tests for HIV, hepatitis, pregnancy and genotype compatibility – before being cleared for the programme.

Aminudeen revealed that some couples had been disqualified after being discovered to have altered their medical test results.

In one case, an intending bride was found to have presented her brother as the groom in an attempt to benefit from the scheme.

Local journalist Yusuf Ali Abdallah, who has covered the mass weddings for years, said Nigeria’s struggling economy had been fuelling desperation among the applicants this year.

“As we all know, marriage involves spending money and the country’s economy is not bright at the moment,” he told the BBC.

“This makes some people desperate to get on this list.”

One couple who were already married had even attempted to present themselves as an intending pair before being detected and removed from the programme, he said.

Other charlatans have tried to take advantage of those desperate to get on the sponsored list, which was made public two weeks ago.

One Kano resident, who asked to be anonymous, said he had been asked to pay a bribe to get on the list.

“But to be fair to the organisers, I later found out those who asked me for money were not Hisbah staff,” he said.

He and his fiancée failed to be chosen for this August’s wedding but he said he would try again next year.