Nigerian singer Timaya has sparked conversation after a video surfaced showing him giving relationship advice to fellow artistes.

In a clip, Timaya said that it can be better to have children without getting married.

He argued that many marriages do not last.

“Just born pikin, pikin go grow. This marriage thing no dey work,” he said, prompting laughter and mixed reactions from those present.

Timaya, who was born in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in 1980, has long been open about his lack of interest in marriage.

In a 2024 interview on Naija FM, he said that he has never felt the need to formalize his relationships, even though he has children.

He explained that marriage has never been personally appealing, though he left room for the possibility that his opinion could change in the future.

The singer, who rose to fame in the mid-2000s with hits like Dem Mama, is a father of four children from three different women.

His first two daughters, Emmanuella and Gracey, were born in 2012 and 2015 to Barbara Fumnaya Nwaokolo, an interior designer.

He later had a son, Emmanuel, in 2018 with Tamar, and a fourth child, Maya, in 2020 with businesswoman Dunnie Onasanya.

In past interviews, he has also described fatherhood as one of the most fulfilling aspects of his life.