Awareness and Compliance with Court Judgment/Constitutional Provisions Legalizing Female Inheritance Rights Among the Igbo, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examined the awareness and compliance with court judgment/constitutional provisions upholding the inheritance rights of Igbo women in Nigeria. The gender inequality theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels guided this study. A mixed-method research design was employed. A sample size of 490 adults was adopted using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire for the collection of quantitative data and 25 traditional rulers using in-depth interviews to elicit qualitative data in the five states of South Eastern Nigeria. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were content analyzed. The study showed that the majority of the respondents were not aware of the court judgment of Ukeje vs Ukeje (2014) in favor of female inheritance rights and constitutional provisions upholding inheritance rights. Compliance with court judgment/Nigerian constitution on female inheritance rights was found to be very low. Strong attachment to cultural practices and beliefs, impinging on female inheritance rights, is still held sacrosanct among the Igbo. There is a need for an increased awareness campaign and imposition of a sanction for non-compliance. Awareness campaigns involving the use of songs, proverbs, dance, and drama, among others, composed in the native language to portray this discriminatory cultural practice and the dangers of its continued existence should be encouraged. Such would be an effective means of enforcing and upholding the inheritance rights of women in South Eastern Nigeria. This study investigated, for the first time, the awareness and compliance with court judgment/constitutional provisions upholding the inheritance rights of women among the Igbo, Nigeria.