WOMEN’S RIGHT OF INHERITANCE UNDER THE IGBO CULTURE OF PRIMOGENITOR: A RE-APPRAISAL

Abstract

The right of inheritance for women in Igbo land is marked by a chequered history. In many cultures across the length and breadth of Nigeria, with exceptions perhaps in some Moslem North, the story is the same. Igbo culture adopts a patrilineal system of contracting marriage. It is a system whereby the man perpetuates the family’s lineage, and, is considered the legitimate heir to the family’s property. To begin a marriage process, he goes in search of a woman of his choice, pays her bride price, and takes her home. By this she forfeits any right of inheritance. This article will lay bare the harsh cultural conditions under which Igbo women are subjected, and, which affect them negatively. It will equally examine the interplay of legal intervention efforts made to free women from this burden imposed upon them by Igbo customary laws limiting their right of inheritance.