Does the bride price enslave African women?

In Nigeria and some other countries in Africa, so
much emphasis is being laid on bride price and
the need for a man to fulfill certain obligations as
custom demands before he is allowed to whisk a
woman away and make her his wife.

As a matter of fact, paying the bride price is an
integral part of the marriage process and a marital
rite that is as important as the old institution
itself. No one is trying to tamper with the aged
belief of paying bride price but it would be nice
for us to review the clauses attached to this
tradition.

Apart from the fact that some tribes are thought
to be more expensive than the others, some
people have misconstrued the entire meaning of
the marital rite and have abused it. Some families
see it as an opportunity to sell off their children
by giving the families of the intending grooms a
ridiculous list of things to produce.
The bride price normally should be a token or
some amount of money given to the bride’s family
by the groom as the tradition demands. However,
the present day society has made it a huge affair
by demanding all sorts of things from the family
of the groom.
This has brought us to ask if the bride price
scheme is indeed an avenue for the families of
the bride to milk money from the groom’s families
or a way of selling off the children.
We have also noticed that some families are
starting to realize the implication of taking bride
price from their daughters’ partners as this gives
men the right to act the way they want with the
women.
We have also heard cases where the families of
the bride would not relent even after several
years; in cases where they lose their daughters
to death, they would request for the bodies to
be returned back to them as the bride price was
never paid.
The bride price degenerates to a vengeful scheme
where the families do not care whether the
husbands are bereaved or not.
Some men avoid paying the bride price because
they do not have what the families are demanding
for. Many relationships have ended as a result of
the pressure laid on the men to pay up what the
custom demands. Here, the bride price becomes a
painful exploit.
Goods taken to the bride’s house as a part of
the bride price ritual
Now looking at the lives the couples live after
the bride price must have been settled and paid,
one would feel sorry for the women. Men feel this
gives them the right to treat these women
anyhow as they claim total ownership afterwards.
They see the women as some property they could
handle anyhow. In this case, the bride price is
seen as a demeaning ritual that rips women of
their rights.
Also, another aspect we need to look at is the
part where the bride price makes men become
authoritative and talk down at the women.
Men start to live like kings and bark orders at
the women as soon as they pay a huge amount of
money as bride price. They basically want the
women to pay them off by rendering them some
services. Some of these men feel cheated and
disappointed if their wives are not as chastised
as they thought they were.
Virginity is another issue that drives them to
anger when they think of the ridiculous amount of
money they invested as bride price.
And finally, when the marriage is beyond the
manageable ability of the women, they may want
to opt out. Again, the bride price issue comes up
as some families would request for the things
they paid as bride price to be returned to them.
Now, it is possible that the people who received
the bride price then might have died. This means
the bride is all by herself and must free herself
from that clause of marriage.
We understand that the idea of the bride price
was put in place in order to make men responsible
and to do things the right way; but at this point,
it would be best for the society to review things
and see if the payment of bride price is worth it
or if it an idea that should be scrapped.
What is your take on this?