Guardian

CONTEMPORARY realities prove that the borders of marriage have been redefined. Same-sex marriage, once a taboo, is making an alarming incursion into several societies. Old-fashioned matrimony, on the other hand, is on the receiving end of assaults, evidenced by an avalanche of conjugal wrecks.

Amid the chaos, Frankwill Ojiako touches an instructive pen to paper. The result: an 81-page book on how couples may wade through the challenges of marriage to build a successful home, and how aspiring partners may wisely weigh their intentions before saying, “I do”.

Ojiako’s ‘I Can Build A Successful Marriage’ hits the bookstands in chapters that include ‘Seven Stages of Marriage Catarrh’, ‘Defeatist Approach to Life’ and ‘Being Persuaded by Faith in God’, among others. It also features appendixes– ‘Sex Drives: His and Hers and ‘Sex Starved in your Marriage?’

“There is nothing more painful than the feeling of love slipping through your fingers,” writes the author. “It hurts… You feel disoriented and dizzy. Nothing else matters… How could this have happened? What went wrong? What happened to the dreams for the future?”

The author, seeking to keep his readers from experiencing such traumatic situations, harps on the need for adequate preparations. Divorce, he argues, betrays lack of preparedness and knowledge on fundamentals put in place by God– the Chief Architect. He, accordingly, unveils many of these rudiments.

Marketed by Lemefrank Nigeria Limited, the book presents realistic understanding that marriages, now and again, would be faced by conflicts. But there is no cause for alarm, says Ojiako. “Conflicts are not the matter.” Instead, “what we do with them” makes all the difference. He goes on, therefore, to unveil a two-way approach to the subject, leaving readers with choice for a happy option.

The author makes no pretensions about his faith in Biblical principles that undergird the institution. Readers who share the same values would, therefore, find the book a refreshing assertion of the supremacy of the scriptures on all things marriage.

“A husband of one wife,” Ojiako’s experiences traverse the Scripture Union, Nigerian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (NIFES) and the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International (FGMBFI).

A member of a non-denominational local Christian assembly in Lagos, Nigeria, he is “a firm believer in the ‘old-time religion’, a non-compromiser with today’s social gospel, a Bible health coach, and a counsellor with a passion for souls, family life and divorce bursting.”

While subsequent editions of the book would require a more thorough editing, bookshelves would nonetheless be the better for yet another entry on how to grow happier marriages.