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The conflict in customary law is a theme that permeates the history of colonialism in Nigeria and indeed Africa. It is a fact that, global interaction has created a world of cultural evolution among nations but in our situation, the many years of subservient relationship with our colonial and slave masters had eroded our traditional safeguards against the adoption of cultural waste that are dumped on us, thereby inheriting two societies that are cumbersome and oftentimes pose as an economic burden.
The customary marriage has suffered the same fate just like all other good things that give us identity as a people. Our customary marriage has been subordinated to statutory marriage to fulfil the so-called “civilisation mission” of our colonial masters. And in some countries like South Africa, customary marriages were at some point not recognised owing to their polygamous nature.
The non-recognition of customary marriages sometimes in this country (South Africa) led to severe hardship, in that children from such marriages were not regarded as legitimate and wives of customary marriages were not given the same status as wives from civil marriages in matters of intestate succession and maintenance. This continued for years until The South African Law Reform Commission wrote several Discussion Papers and made proposals regarding the recognition of customary marriages which said agitations gave birth to The Recognition of Customary Marriages Act 120 of 1998which then recognised customary marriages.this essay discusses the legal effect of customary marriages in nigeria
1.1 Background of the Study
Marriage is a universal institution recognized and respected throughout the world. As a social institution, marriage is founded and governed by the social and religious norms of society . Therefore, the sanctity of marriage is a well-accepted principle in the world community. Marriage is the root of family and society. However, by looking at the types of marriage in Nigeria, therefore, unlike most European countries two marriage systems are recognized in Nigeria, namely, monogamous and polygamous . These two marriage systems differ fundamentally from character and incidents. It is therefore important to take this duality into account in any consideration of marriage laws in Nigeria in order to avoid confusion. In all cases concerning marriage, the lawyer in Nigeria must first determine the type of marriage involved before he can apply the appropriate law . However, monogamous marriage is Nigeria is the same as in England. It is marriage that Lord Pensance called voluntary union for the life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, whereas polygamous marriage can be defined as a voluntary union for life of a man with one or more wives (Cottrell, 2013). Its essential characteristic is the ability of the man to take as many women as he wants. The mere fact that he has at one time only one woman does not affect the character of the marriage as long as the capacity to take more women is preserved. Generally, there is no limit to the number of wives a husband could take under the polygamous system. It always depends on its affluence .
 Marriage is an institution that represents all the behaviors, norms, roles, expectations and values associated with the legal union of a person or a union of persons who are most often of the opposite sex involving a man and a woman.  This is one of the major events in life that marks the transition to mature adult life and represents a lifelong commitment of two people to each other.
As a system, marriage is carrying out, following a series of colossal procedures as practiced and understood by the cultures of the parties concerned. Different communities recognize patterns and types of marriages according to