 In the past , many Igbo men practiced polygamy . The polygamous family is made up of a man and his wives and all their children . Men sometimes married multiple wives for economic reasons so as to have more people in the family , including children , to help on farms . Christian and civil marriages have changed the Igbo family since colonization . Igbo people now tend to enter monogamous courtships and create nuclear families , mainly because of Western influence . Some Western marriage customs , such as weddings in a church , take place either before or after the lgbo cultural traditional marriage . 
