An evaluation of equality rights and the rights of women to inheritance in Nigeria

Abstract

This article examines equality rights and the rights of women to inheritance in Nigeria. Equality rights is about equal protection of the rights of individuals, whether male or female. In Nigeria, the whole issues surrounding equality rights, actually arose from the gender bias of traditional human rights conceptions, which never served women’s interest, but discriminated against women. The researcher adopted the doctrinal method of research. The objective of this article is to reveal that under most customary laws, women have no inheritance right, except when they institute actions in courts to assert their inheritance rights. This article concludes that sex discrimination is still a legally tolerated norm under Nigerian customary laws and that it is only when women constitute 50% of the institutions that make our country’s laws, that they can be assured of laws that will truly reflect their interests. It is recommended that the legislature should pass new laws to outlaw sex discrimination in all areas of law.