THE ROLE OF SOCIAL WELFARE PRACTITIONERS IN RESOLVING MARITAL DISPUTES IN OREDO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

ABSTRACT

The study examined role of social welfare practitioners in resolving marital dispute in Oredo local government area, Edo state. To facilitate the study, questionnaires were administered to the selected respondents. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, Version 24.0) was employed to examine the feedbacks from the questionnaires. The objective of the study are to find out the causes of marital dispute among couples in Oredo local government area, Edo state; The study was conducted across Oredo L.G.A, Edo State, Nigeria. Oredo is a Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. Its capital city is Benin City which also is the capital city of Edo State, Nigeria. It has an area of 249km2 and a population of 374,671 at the 2006 census and projected to be 553,300 (city population, 2023). For the purpose of this study, purposive sampling technique which involves the selection of participants in such a way that it would follow the purpose of the study strictly by considering only the married, cohabited intimate partners and separated/divorced individuals.From the findings, it was also revealed that the respondents agreed that social welfare practitioners such as social workers acts as a neutral third party in times of marital dispute, helping family members share their fears, concerns or disappointments in a non-confrontational way. The Government needs to come up with a law that works against social-cultural norms that encourage marital dispute. Also the government needs to educate and sensitize community members to shun cultural practices that support wife beating. Come up with the law that can punish any one to beat his wife. The community stakeholders needs to come up with the laws that will eradicate the stereotypes and patriarchal system that tent to give the man absolute power of life and death over the woman, which continuously serves as an impetus for wife beating support.