A legal practitioner, Stephanie Ekpebulu, has urged women to take advantage of the Female Inheritance Law recently passed by Rivers State House of Assembly to assert their rights to inherit property in their respective communities.
Ekpebulu stated this in a presentation she made at a one-day advocacy and dialogue meeting at Eleme Local Government Hall in Rivers State organised by Mba Okase Initiative, Eleme for women in the area. Her presentation was titled, “Female Inheritance: Is it Intelligible; Is it Justiciable; Is it Practical?
Citing verses from the Bible and backing them up with provisions of the law and Supreme Court judgments, the lawyer said women must speak up against harmful practices against them report especially now that the relevant laws outlawing those practices are being put in place.
She said that now that some of those traditions that denied women their rights to inherit property has become illegal and obsolete, such customs should be dispensed with and new laws and court judgments recognising women’s rights to inheritance and personal dignity be adopted.
The Coordinator of Mba Okase Initiative, Dr. Patience Osaroejiji, had earlier highlighted problems that women in Eleme Local Government Area faced in their daily lives. These she listed to include; rape in the farms, destruction of crops by cattle, domestic violence, limited access to health facilities, youth unemployment and violence.
She lamented that though women cared more for the family, they got nothing in return from the families. “Even when compensation for community land is paid to the family and community, no portion is assigned to the wife. The husband collects his share, the wife’s and that of the children,” she lamented.
Dr. Osaroejiji however praised the local chairman, Hon. Obarilomate Ollor, for reducing cult activities and insecurity in the area and helping to boost electricity supply.
The Vice-Chairperson of Eleme Local Government, Mrs. Virtue Ekee, urged the women to be patient as the processes of enacting and enforcing the Women Inheritance and Violence Against Persons Laws were making progress.
She said they are laws that the government was willing to implement and advised the women not to give up in their struggles and stay steady on the good course so that the law will be on their side.
During the interactive session, the Paramount Ruler of Eteo community, Emereekarakobe, who represented the Oneh-Eh Eleme, noted that women do not inherit their father’s property in Eleme because they belonged to their husbands’ families, noting that reversing it could lead to rise in divorce as women would want to return to their maiden homes to claim inheritance.
A special assistant to Eleme Local Government Chairman, Hon. Martha Egbe, lamented that women in Eleme were so denied their rights that when companies pay compensation to communities and families for acquired or damaged land, many husbands refuse to hand the shares of their wives to them.