AN OVERVIEW OF WOMEN RIGHTS OVER LAND IN SELECTED JURISDICTIONS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

For ages, women have been discriminated against from inheriting property or properties either from their father’s or husband’s side. This discriminatory practice and attitude on women centers majorly on inheritance and succession. This is because each society has a mode or modes of disposing property of its citizens upon death or any circumstance whatsoever. Nigeria operates a multi legal system which presents varied property inheritance rules governing the lives of their respective citizens; an example is the customary law system which generally accords inferior status to women over land than the male gender contrary to constitutional provisions, Regional Convention, International Treaties on equal gender treatment. In fact there are some parts of the country, where women are totally denied the right to inherit or administer such and when they do have these rights. This paper adopts the doctrinal research methodology through statutes, case laws and opinions of authors to examine the practicability of women's unhindered right to hold and freely access land for their use in some parts of Nigeria, alongside the legal provisions on same, unfolds series of discriminatory practices, marginalization and discriminatory customary dictates and practices in Nigeria that is obstructing the manifestation of the true and honest intentions and benefits of constitutional provisions on rights of a woman to have equal access to land as the male gender. This paper therefore examines, the limits of the rights to inheritance of females over land under customary law with specific reference to some parts of Nigeria and found out there is still discrimination of women’s property rights despite several enactments and judicial pronouncements by the courts.