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ABSTRACT
There are as many Customary Laws in the country as there are communities. In most of these communities, women are not entitled to land in their own right under the customary law that operates in most of the indigenous areas. The traditional beliefs in patriarchy and male primogeniture in various customs in Nigeria place women as inferior and as subordinate to men. These customs promote a custom of inequality of the male and female sexes which, among others, disentitled women from inheriting property under customary law, undermining the fact that they are human beings too and they have rights and lost times it is proven that these women toiled with these men to acquire the said property. Women have been victims of deprivation of inheritance rights from time immemorial which has made them suffer so much. Some of these women are even children of wealthy parents or wives of wealthy men and yet they are left to suffer because they have not been left with any inheritance at the demise of either parents or husbands. However in the 2014 case of Ukeje v. Ukeje, the Supreme Court of Nigeria invalidated that custom for failing the repugnancy test and contradicting relevant fundamental rights provisions on equality and non-discrimination in the Nigerian Constitution. This judgment literally reversed the custom and granted women equal right to inherit immovable property with the men. This paper seeks to review the state of female inheritance before this landmark judgment by the Supreme Court and the situation of affairs after the judgment. It seeks to review the change this judgment has brought whether positive or negative and if the discrimination against women when it comes to property inheritance has been reduced to its barest minimal between 2014 till date. Most rural folks are skeptical of change and stick to the old custom. This paper concludes that the judgment alone cannot, except with some form of expansion guarantee full acceptance and institutionalization of the new concept of women’s right to inherit property. It therefore recommends, among others, legislative action, broad sensitization by the locals, and the education of traditional rulers about the backdrop of this said custom and acceptance of new, impartial customs.
