WOMEN'S RIGHT OF INHERITANCE: Women's Property Right Still a Major Issue in Nigeria (a Legal Perspective).

 

Image credit: OtownGist.

The crux of this problem. Started with the fact that women have no identity of their own. At birth, they are their fathers, at marriage, they are their sons, at their husband's death, they are their sons. 

For a person who is never her own being but owned by others, it only makes sense that property cannot own a property. Which is why our approach to addressing these issue must address it at the root cause. 

Recently, the news broke out that The late elder statesman and former Ohanaeze Ndigbo President -General, Chief (Engr. Dr. ) Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has left behind a final Will that 'bans his wife, Lolo Frances from remarrying'.

Apparently, if she chooses to remarry, she stands to forfeit the properties inherited. 

This news coincided with the presently trending shocking story of Ifunanya, a girl who could not reach her father for six months, suspecting something was wrong, came back to her village to find out that her aunt's and uncles (fathers siblings) connived, tied and held her father ransome in other to collect his retirement benefits and siphon money from her whole posing as her father.

Apparently, Ifunanya's father had made his siblings his next of kin to the exclusion of his wife and adult children. 

When Ifunanya's story came out, many thought I was over stretching a simple issue when I said that many Nigerian men use their siblings as next of kin and also disinherit their wives for one singular purpose - to stop them from remarrying after their death. 

That of Ifunanya might not be so obvious, but that of Ch. Iwuanyanwu only made this very extant and wide spread practice as clear as day light, and it shows in the widespread support men gave it. Which is why I will be addressing the issue of customary right of inheritance in Nigeria 

A sneak peak into Nigeria' customary inheritance practice. 

Some months back, a client came to my office so I can prepare land agreement for them. I asked the prospective buyer what was his name and he mentioned both his name and his wife's name as co-owners even though he was the only one paying. 

Then the other party tried discouraging him, advising him to use ONLY HIS NAME. He instantly shut them down. He said he has seen how cruel families (siblings) can be after their brother passes. They capture all the property, neglect their dead brother's children and make the woman go through untold suffering. 

He said even if the woman chooses to remarry, she is their mother, he knows she wouldn't abandon the children. They are her responsibility so the property will be in her name because SHE IS DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CHILDREN. 

Of course I added my vote of support because this practice has a deep root in our customs.

Traditionally, in some parts of Nigeria especially the old Igbo tradition and cultures that do not support women inheritance (remember there are diverse cultures in Nigeria). 

Women in cultures that disinherit women do not have proprietary rights over their husband's estate (right to own), what they have is possessory right (which right to live or occupy the house or farm) 

And this possessory right is not without qualifications. Her possessory right is SUBJECT TO GOOD BEHAVIOUR. Which means, his family can disenfranchise her of that possessory right if she is not of good behaviour.

Now this 'subject to good behaviour' clause is where the control comes. The phrase subject to good behaviour is open ended. It could mean that she stole, slap the man's mother, abandon the kids, went out at night, or.... as your guess is good as mine, she remarries against her in-laws wishes. 

So this dead man is controlling his wife's vagina from the grave, through the hands of his misogynistic siblings. It only became a problem now because the siblings became too greedy to wait for his death!

If she 'stubbornly' chooses to remarry, since both her, the children and her late husband's properties are considered property of the man, and by extension, properties of the man's family, she stands to loses both her children and her possessory rights, except the man's family approve of that marriage (which we know is not usually the case under most customs.

To avoid losing children and property, she either :

✅ Remains unmarried or;

✅ Marry one of the husband's siblings or relatives in what is called levirate marriage. That way, the property remains within the family or;

✅ Notionally marries her eldest son: Marrying her son does not mean actual marriage and consummation, it is notional, which means her son steps into the shoes of her husband, his late father. And since a first son has right of inheritance, she inherits (or protects her possessory right) by the proxy of her son. 

This act of notionally marrying her son is for the sake of protecting her possessory right especially where she rejects a levirate marriage. To get a clearer picture: 

In the old Igbo tradition, death of a man does not terminate his marriage to his living wives. Hence, even if they conceive and bare children after his death, those children belong to the dead husband and best his name. She has to undergo special rituals to terminate the marriage with her dead husband. However, the death of a wife terminates her marriage to her living husband.

Her options are very limited. If she chooses to do what she wants to i.e. remarry, she can lose possessory rights to both property and children as her right is 'subject to good behaviour' aka obeying the man's family. 

The Rationale for this:

1. To keep family asset within the family: Our society is patrilineal and lineage is passed through the men (sons, fathers, uncles brother). 

Even though this practice has wanes significantly, it still has greatly influences reasoning.

Till today many men have not stopped viewing their wives as properties (all thanks to the bride price system!). They still believe that once they marry a woman, they marry her and all her properties. They still view their wives as their property and a property cannot hold property.

They don't need to say it, this belief is permissive and still standing. We've seen wives being pressured to transfer title documents to husband's name. I have seen husbands sell wife's property without wife's consent and people actually buy it just because the man said 'it is my wife's property' even though his name is not on the title documents or it is jointly owned.

What do you expect of a man who believes his wife's property is his property? He also invariably believes that if she remarries, she automatically transfers her property (including the ones she inherited from him) to her new husband, hence, depleting family asset. There is a chain of reasoning here. 

2. They do not view their wives as family: A man said his father told him "remember, your wife is the only person in your house that is not your family member". Whatever that means. Reason being that she can divorce him.

They view women as necessary evils for continuation of their lineage. She is like a catalysts who triggers a reaction but does not take part in it- she is instrumental to the continuation of a blood line but does not take part in passing down her own bloodline. 

Women's inheritance is seen is delineating family asset.

Why this is a feminist issue

1. Women's property right remains a big issue: Only one in five landowners in Nigeria are women; African Development Bank said Nigerian women form 70% of agriculture workforce and contribute 90% of their earnings from it to the family.

In African, according to World Bank, women are said to contribute an estimated 40% of agricultural produce, yet, own less than 10% of the land.

What this translates to is lower access to is dependence on men even when he is abusive, being 'of good behaviour' to enjoy possessory rights, lower access to credit facilities which demands collateral. Hence, toone system of inequalities.

While sons have a head start by inheriting, daughters are told they can't inherit their father's property because they will marry and enjoy their husband's property. And when they marry, husbands family tell them they can't inherit because they will remarry and deplete assets. So gives women the head start that their bothers enjoy just by being born male?

2. This does not apply to men: A man can inherit his wife's property without cultural caveats. And it matters not if he uses this marital enrichment to remarry a new wife.

I do not want you, my dearest readers, to think that by saying that woman's property remains hers even after marriage, this is me trying to convince the Patriarchy that women deserve the right to inherit and also remarry. 

No, of course I want to call the Patriarchy out on its senseless bluff, however, the real point I'm making is this:👉 If men can inherit their wife's property and use it to remarry, women should be able to do so without any caveat, whether or not the property passes to her new husband should be of no issue. 

If we, as a society, are comfortable with men doing that, we should have no problem with women doing that. I'm not trying to side step round an issue and make it more palatable for the taste bud of patriarchal by telling it that such property do not pass to the new husbands. NO! I am saying if it applies to men, it should apply to women in like manner. That's all. 

If the reasoning fails in the eyes of equitable logic, I do not stand with it and do not wish to make it sound easily digestible to the Patriarchy.

Note that a lot of these cultures have being held to be repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience by the court see Mojekwu v Mojekwu; Ukeje v Ukeje. 

More so, I  our Administration of Estate Laws, wives and children are first in line to succeed their husband and father's estate. Hence, since families can no longer tell a woman 'it is subject to good behaviour', men have chosen to include caveats in their wills. 

The Way Forward

I love to address things from the root cause. 

The crux of this problem. Started with the fact that women have no identity of their own. At birth, they are their fathers, at marriage, their husbands, and upon their husband's death, their sons. 

For a person who is never her own being but owned by others, it only makes sense that property cannot own a property. Which is why our approach to addressing these issue must address it at the root cause. 

1. Reject patrilineal societal dictates: Yes.yiu heard that right, and you can do it by the little big things like:

✅ Abolish bride price system: I did not say make it cheaper, or try to rationalise it by claiming that it is symbolic or a token of appreciation. It is a mark of ownership. If you choose to sell your expensive jewel worth millions for $10, ownership has passed and it is a valid sale in the eye of the law. So making it cheaper for men to acquire women in this culturally sanctioned female skin trade called bride price system is not the way forward. 

✅ Autonomous Identity after marriage: Do not change your name to his hence stamping upon yourself the cultural idea that you belong to him like a property.

✅ TRANSFERABILITY OF IDENTITY: One surest way to reject patrilineal arrangement is for more women to transfer their names to their children. 

Your child CAN & SHOULD bear your name as a woman. It's not enough too retain your name after marriage. Your identity should be transferable to the kids that came out of your loins.

A woman's identity should not end with her, she should be able to pass same to her children. 

✅ Your bloodline matters. They are not his children, they are yours as much as his or even to a greater extent, yours, by reason of the Crucially biological role you play.

2. Women should prioritize owning properties by themselves: I don't know how else to shout this, but women need to realise that your husband being a landlord does not automatically makes you a landlady IN THE EYES OF THE NIGERIAN LAW. What makes you a land owner is your receipts not your marriage certificate. And while marriage may create the illusion that you're a landlady by virtue of marriage, the proverbial scale will fall off your eyes at the point of divorce or death of your husband. 

So stop using your income to buy food, pay school fees, utilities (expenses that depletes asset), while your husband uses his income to buy shares, land, cars, start business (investments that appreciates earnings) 'for the family. 

Have an account, both of you contribute equitable portions of your salary to be used towards expenses, so you too can invest. 

A study shows that about 50% of women ages 55 to 66 cannot afford to retire because they have no retirement funds. They spent their monies on food, food, food. And this is in the U.S that has considerably higher gender politics than Nigeria. Imagine the case of Nigerian women???

Do not deceive yourself that your contributions are equal, it is not. CONSCIOUSLY AND INTENTIONALLY PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY RIGHT JEALOUSLY 

WOMEN! KNOW & PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY RIGHT

2. 

3. REJECT LANGUAGE OF PATRIARCHY: Start configuring and rewiring your brain to recognise your person-hood and individuality as a woman, not in relation to a man but as his equal. You do so by rejecting language of Patriarchy. I did this and I noticed significant difference in how intentional I was about protecting my property right because I realise no man will save me. Some languages to watch out for:

✖️ I am his or I belong to him (shows propriety)

✅ I am his girlfriend/ wife (shows relationship with the man in question)

✖️ Husband's house

✅ Matrimonial home.

✖️ His children

✅ Mine or our children.

You have to start rewiring your brain to see you as a full autonomous being so that it step into your being and can influence your own decision.

If patriarchy has taught us one thing, it is not going to rescue women and we women must actively rejects cultures that victimised us. 

Thank you for staying to the end. Don't forget to drop your COMMENT, THOUGHTS and SHARE. 

  

Dogo Joy Njeb is a practicing lawyer and founder of SheResonance Awareness and a legal commentator. 

She was shortlisted for the Speculative Literary Fiction Prize, has previously published with Naija Feminist Media, SheResonance, Storeadtime, Herlore-A Thousand Paper Cuts, Vine Press- Isn't she Too human to self objectify? and others.

Follow her on Facebook & Instagram.

ABOUT US: 

SheResonance is a media awareness groups that breaks down complex issues of women's right into easily digestible form. We believe the first step to mental emancipation is our ability to identify our chains. 

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