Chiefs from Uvwie Kingdom in Delta State at the commendation service for the former Governor of Bayelsa State, late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, at Amasoma in Bayelsa State last Saturday
A University lecturer
has advocated for a more equitable and robust legal system that would ensure proper sharing of properties of deceased persons in African society.
Barr. Elijah Briggs of the Faculty of Law, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nkpolu/Oroworukwo, said, the traditional system, though laudable to some extent is bereft of measures of equity.
In an interview with The Tide, Tuesday, in Port Harcourt, Briggs observed that a situation where some traditional laws ascribed ownership of properties on the demise of a person to the sole administration of male children and in some other instances to sole administration of the deceased properties only to biological children was not enough.
He said, “this is completely at variance with and repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience because female children should not be disparaged or treated less human by reason of their gender.
“This is pursuant to the provisions of the Nigerian constitution in Chapter 4 where it prohibits the discrimination of any Nigerian by the reason of sex or gender.
According to him as Nigerians and Africans, we are not making full use of the Will System because there is the customary law system”, adding that “most of these customary laws also inculcated inheritance, succession rules and regulations.”
“Based on the forgoing, you understand that every African has the innate and prime responsibilities to observe his traditional values and ethos,” he said.
The university lecturer who noted that the Will, by virtue of the Wills Act is seen as an imposition of English law system which by virtue of Nigerian colonization by the British Empire would be very difficult to juxtapose with the customary law system on issues of inheritance and succession of titles.
“From the forgoing, I will opine that the traditional/customary law be not thrown away like a baby with the birth water but should be sustained under a system that is fair, just and equitable to reflect modern day reality”, he said, stressing that, by so doing, it would reduce the disputes associated with sharing of properties and rules as well as reduce to minimal proportion intenercine
Chris Oluoh
