Don’t marry if you can’t pay the bills

Presiding Bishop and General Overseer of the Action Chapel International, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, has advised men intending to marry to ensure that they are financially capable of managing their homes before picking a wife.

In an interview with TV3’s Cookie Tee on January 23, 2026, the preacher warned society against funding couples who are not financially stable, warning that the marriage would suffer in the long term.

“It’s not just about you loving the person; you have to be responsible, and this kind of mentality and attitude in our society, ‘Oh, let’s help him; oh, let’s help them,’ is not doing justice to future generations.

“We are making them irresponsible. They must be responsible; they have to save. They have to save for the child coming, for the pregnancy, for the school fees, for the medicals and some of them don’t even have a place to stay,” he warned.

Duncan-Williams acknowledged that although there is no problem starting humbly as a fresh couple, the man has the responsibility to ensure he is financially ready to support his wife.

Don’t marry if you can’t pay the bills, your wife will lose respect for you – Duncan-Williams to men

Failure to do so, according to him, would lead to disrespect from the wife since women tend to show respect to husbands who can pay the bills.

“Some live in somebody’s boy’s quarters, or they live in an unfinished house. Others also marry, and they go and stay with the girl’s parents. Now, there’s nothing wrong about that. But a lot of people do it in a way where the woman begins to lose respect for you.

“As soon as she loses respect for you, the marriage is over because she begins to misbehave, despise you, look down upon you, and then you also feel like ‘I can’t show her affection and love if she mishandles me or disrespects me.’ But a woman is not going to respect you and serve meat to you when you can’t pay the bills,” he said.

ID/EB