NIGERIA: Controversial app in Nigeria allows women to calculate their bride price.

Record ID: 236847

  • Title: NIGERIA: Controversial app in Nigeria allows women to calculate their bride price.
  • Date: 15th August 2014
  • Summary: LAGOS, NIGERIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) LOLA OGUNBADERO, BRIDE BEING HELPED WITH HER NECKLACE LOLA BEING HELPED WITH HER SHOE LOLA BEING HELPED WITH HER WRAPPER SHOPPING BAG READING: "BRIDES N MORE" DRUMMERS WEDDING GUESTS VARIOUS OF BRIDE DANCING WITH FRIENDS MORE OF DRUMMERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOLA OGUNBADERO, BRIDE, SAYING: "I tried doing it once and I felt this is not how it's calculated because obviously when they asked for my own list, we didn't put all those you went to school into consideration or.. it's just a traditional thing where what they have been doing since right from time, bring all the yam, all the... but I just feel the bride app is just a game, it's just a play thing." VARIOUS ANAKLE STAFF MEMBER LOOKING AT LAPTOP SCREEN WITH BRIDE PRICE APP VARIOUS OF LAPTOP SCREEN READING: "BRIDE PRICE" (SOUNDBITE) (English) OFURE UKPEBOR, LEAD DEVELOPER, ANAKLE, SAYING: "The application enables anyone to check the bride price for their friends, their enemies or them selves and there are a lot of categories to choose from. The application decides based on physical appearance, cooking skills and educational levels, and all of those." VARIOUS OF EDITI EFFIONG, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, ANAKLE TALKING TO STAFF LAPTOP SCREEN READING: "HALF CASTE, LIGHT SKIN, DARK, WHITENICIOUS, LUPITA" (SOUNDBITE) (English) EDITI EFFIONG, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, ANAKLE SAYING: "It's an inside joke by Africans for Africans, right, and we ... the concept of bride price is not being sold ...But for someone who is not used to ... who has never paid a bride price it's like oh my God, it's such a barbaric culture. We are just, so we expected this, at our strategy session we expected there will be negative comments from people outside of the country and we had a reaction prepared for that and we also did have a petition to take down the app, and also we petitioned against the petition to take down the app, so we thought okay, we will just see where it goes and we did consider you know, actually considered if this got a bit of traction, a lot of traction then we will consider making changes or taking it off but it did not really take off." VARIOUS OF POPOOLA OLANREWAJU, GROOM AND HIS FRIENDS PROSTRATING FOR PRAYERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) POPOOLA OLANREWAJU, GROOM SAYING: "Like it's tradition you know and it's what, it's just trying to tell the parents that actually I appreciate this, and in the Yoruba context of it; in the Yoruba context of it, they are just trying to tell you that okay, my daughter I can't just give you for free, you have to pay me something, but now you know we modernised it and just like you will see, it's basically in quote, what I have seen, when you give them the dowry, they return it back to you most of the time, but some won't, some might, but some will have the feeling that I am not selling my daughter to you, I'm just giving to you, just make sure you take care of her and all that. So paying dowry is just for me as at now it's just to follow tradition." VARIOUS OF JOAN OKORODUDU, GENDER ACTIVIST IN HER SITTING ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOAN OKORODUDU, GENDER ACTIVIST SAYING: "I will advise young girls to say no, we don't want to be sold and if they actually love each other they can arrange you know, talk to the parents and see how this whole bride price thing should...you know we need to stop really and the advise to parents is that you are not selling your child, do it I mean you can take a token to say okay this is our tradition, this is a token, the oji which is the kola-nut, this that and put two naira, one naira as a symbol but not ... I heard some people will even ask for Rolex, car and all that." VARIOUS OF LOLA AND POPOOLA SEATED TAKING PICTURES DURING THE WEDDING
  • Embargoed: 30th August 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA80T9DYY822TJFP8JPBXPBXXZH
  • Story Text: This is Lola Ogunbadero's big day. Lola's female relatives are helping put finishing touches to her traditional Yoruba wedding dress. They add a necklace and finally a head wrap to match; a required accessory for brides from South-west Nigeria.
    Lola's friends and relatives walk her down the aisle at a packed ceremony filled with guests. As part of the celebrations, Lola dances with her friends as she makes her way to meet the groom.
    Many people in Nigeria still follow their traditional customs when it comes to big ceremonies like weddings. But they also blend the old with the new.
    An important cultural practice, that has been passed down from generation to generation is the exchange of dowry between the two families.
    Ahead of her wedding, Lola tried to use a new app that calculates your worth as a bride.
    "I tried doing it once and I felt this is not how it's calculated because obviously when they asked for my own list, we didn't put all those you went to school into consideration or; it's just a traditional thing where what they have been doing since right from time, bring all the yam, all the ... but I just feel the bride app is just a game, it's just a play thing," said Lola..
    Lola may not have given the Bride Price app a positive review but it generated over four million hits from 56 countries when it was first launched three months ago.
    The app was created here at Anakle, a digital agency located in a suburb in Lagos, Nigeria's bustling commercial capital.
    Users answer a series of questions ranging from skin colour, height and weight to leg shape.
    The app also includes other criteria such as education and country of residence.
    Once the questions are completed, the phrase: "Please wait, the elders are consulting" appears before final results are revealed.
    Ofure Ukpebor, lead developer at Anakle explains just how the app works.
    "The application enables anyone to check the bride price for their friends, their enemies or them selves and there are a lot of categories to choose from. The application decides based on physical appearance, cooking skills and educational levels, and all of those," said Ukpebor.
    The Bride Price app has, however, courted controversy since its inception. For the category of skin colour, popular Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong'o's complexion is valued at 50,000 naira (303 US dollars) while 'whitenicious' referring to users who use bleaching creams are deducted 50,000 naira.
    It has been criticised for use of terms such as 'half-caste' and for its use of racial demarcations
    But according to Editi Effiong, Anakle's Chief Operating Officer, the Bride Price App is merely meant to be humorous and is not meant to be taken seriously.
    They have also included a disclaimer on the app's site stating that it is only a joke.
    "It's an inside joke by Africans for Africans, right, and we ... the concept of bride price is not being sold ...But for someone who is not used to ... who has never paid a bride price it's like oh my God, it's such a barbaric culture. We are just, so we expected this, at our strategy session we expected there will be negative comments from people outside of the country and we had a reaction prepared for that and we also did have a petition to take down the app, and also we petitioned against the petition to take down the app, so we thought okay, we will just see where it goes and we did consider you know, actually considered if this got a bit of traction, a lot of traction then we will consider making changes or taking it off but it did not really take off," explained Effiong.
    Back at Lola's wedding, the groom and his friends are participating in another age-old tradition. They are lying prostrate before their elders in a symbolic act of humility to ask for their blessings.
    Despite the controversy around the Bride Price app, Popoola believes traditions such as the payment of dowry will continue and should be embraced if they are not used to marginalise women.
    "Like it's tradition you know and it's what, it's just trying to tell the parents that actually I appreciate this, and in the Yoruba context of it.... in the Yoruba context of it, they are just trying to tell you that okay, my daughter I can't just give you for free, you have to pay me something, but now you know we modernised it and just like you will see, it's basically in quote, what I have seen, when you give them the dowry, they return it back to you most of the time, but some won't, some might, but some will have the feeling that I am not selling my daughter to you, I'm just giving to you, just make sure you take care of her and all that. So paying dowry is just to for me as at now it's just to follow tradition, it does not actually depict what the lady is worth," he said.
    Still, according to gender activist, Joan Okorodudu the Bride Price app and traditional practices like dowry marginalise and objectify women.
    "I will advise young girls to say no, we don't want to be sold and if they actually love each other they can arrange you know, talk to the parents and see how this whole bride price thing should...you know we need to stop really and the advise to parents is that you are not selling your child, do it I mean you can take a token to say okay this is our tradition, this is a token, the oji which is the kola-nut, this that and put two naira, one naira as a symbol but not ... I heard some people will even ask for Rolex, car and all that."
    But for the young couple who just got married, the elders have indeed spoken. Leaving the debates behind for now, it's clear that for them, it's the sentiment of togetherness and joy that their marriage symbolises that's important; a time when family and friends come together to sing, dance and feast.
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