At 66, Nigeria Still Denies Women Inheritance Rights, Fuelling Poverty, Violence –Lawyer, Ezeilo | Sahara Reporters

Ezeilo said although Nigerian courts, including the Supreme Court, had established legal protections against discriminatory inheritance practices, enforcement remained a major challenge.

Professor Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and human rights lawyer, has raised concerns over the continued denial of women’s inheritance and property rights in Nigeria, particularly in the South-East.

Ezeilo spoke at a press conference organised by the Women Aid Collective (WACOL) to mark Nigeria’s 66th Independence anniversary.

She said discriminatory customary practices continue to deny women access to land, houses, farms and other assets, contributing to poverty, violence and economic hardship for women and children.

“The South-East is worst off in terms of lack of ability of women, whether as wife or as daughter, to inherit from the estate of their deceased father or the estate of their deceased husband,” she said.

Ezeilo said although Nigerian courts, including the Supreme Court, had established legal protections against discriminatory inheritance practices, enforcement remained a major challenge.

“The Supreme Court of Nigeria has decided, and that is really the law,” she said. “But it’s just that it’s so disconnected with the realities that people, even in our rural areas, are not aware of the judgment.”

She called for stronger enforcement of existing laws and the enactment of additional legislation to protect women’s inheritance rights at national and state levels.

According to her, denial of inheritance can deprive women of land and other productive assets needed to support themselves and their children.

“It contributes to violence, and not just violence, to extreme poverty of women and children deprived of inheritance that could be a lifeline to their getting the education of their choice, to their getting the kind of capital they need to create wealth,” she said.

Ezeilo also called on Nigeria to ratify the African Union Convention on Violence Against Women and ensure the effective implementation of existing international commitments on women’s rights.

She said WACOL would continue providing legal assistance to women, children and other vulnerable people facing rights violations.

Ezeilo said Nigeria’s 66th anniversary should also prompt reflection on the extent to which citizens enjoy their constitutional rights.

“Women should enjoy their rights as human beings, they should enjoy their rights as protected in the Constitution,” she said.

“At 66, Nigerian women should walk, you know, high, their shoulder, and have equal rights to equal inheritance, to land, to housing, to everything that is due to them as full citizens of Nigeria in a democratic state of Nigeria.”

She added: “Progress for women is progress for Nigerian men.”