TY  - JOUR
AU  - Godbless, Deedam Dorka
AU  - Poroma, Celestine Lekara
PY  - 2020
TI  -  The Challenges Surrounding the “Biaken” Culture in Ogoni Land in the 21st Century
JF  - KIU Journal of Social Sciences; Vol 6 No 1 (2020): KIU Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 6 No. 1, March 2020
KW  - 
N2  -  Biaken culture is specifically practiced by the Ogoni people in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. It is a cultural practice that refuses a girl from getting married, rather they are allowed by their parents to have children with anybody of their choice. It was practiced to maintain the royal blood, to maintain status-quo and to ensure the continuity of the family. The study reveals that the Biaken culture are faced with several challenges, ranging from refusal of the young girls to be initiated into Biaken, the Christians preached against it, the educated girls and parents have also undermined it while most young girls eloped with their would be husbands and finally married in the court without the consent and approval of their parents. The study also reveals that greater proportion of the children born by the Biaken are not educated by their biological fathers, since the culture demands that these children must not bear the names of their biological fathers. The study also finds out that the Biaken culture increases single parenthood which gives birth to improper training of the children, poverty, lack of support, emotional trauma, truancy etc. Therefore, the following were recommended as panacea to the problems identified; the parents should no longer force their children into Biaken, and the practice of Biaken culture should be abolished.     Keywords:  Biaken, Biaken Conflict, Saaro, Culture and Single Parenthood. 
UR  - https://www.ijhumas.com/ojs/index.php/kiujoss/article/view/743