New directions for securing african women’s right to property under customary law: The case of Nigeria

Abstract

Nigerian women and girls, like most of their African counterparts, are excluded under customary law from inheriting land or landed property from their deceased intestate husbands or fathers. This discrimination is rooted in ancient traditional rules of patriarchy and primogeniture, which assume women and girls to be naturally subordinate and inferior to men and boys. They particularly view women as part of the inheritable estate of their deceased husbands. In times past, the Nigerian Supreme Court endorsed this custom. This paper explores two recent judgments of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, which establish new directions for securing women’s dignity, equality, and right to inherit immovable property under customary law. It also identifies inherent gaps therein and makes suggestions for bridging them. It further highlights statutory provisions that invariably promote primogeniture, thereby inhibiting women’s sustainable right to property, even under a will. This paper centers on Nigeria, but most of its findings have relevance for women’s property rights in other parts of Africa, concluding that reforms such as judicial activism and transformative constitutionalism are fundamental to women’s development and social change in Nigeria, and in parts of Africa.