Anambra Gov’t Moves Against Discriminatory Female Inheritance Practices
The Anambra government has said it will henceforth prosecute people and families who deny female children the right to access properties of their parents.
Tobechukwu Nweke (SAN), the Attorney General of Anambra disclosed this in a disclosed in a letter written to the Nigerian Police on Tuesday.
Nweke said the government through his ministry had requested the Nigerian Police to investigate complaints of discriminatory inheritance practices against women and transmit the case file to his office for prosecution.
The Commissioner who described the practice as obnoxious said denying women and girls their right to inherit property was a crime under Section 22 of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Law, 2017 of Anambra.
He said offenders were liable to punishment of up to four years imprisonment.
Nweke said in order to effectively combat the practice, the Ministry had designated the Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) Unit to handle the prosecution of offenders of all forms of domestic violence and sexual offences according to the relevant law.
“In light of the foregoing, you are kindly requested to ensure that your office thoroughly investigates all reported cases of gender-based disinheritance and that the case files are transmitted to this Ministry for further action,” he said.
Nweke regretted that despite the decisions of the Supreme Court which declared exclusion of females from inheriting property as unconstitutional and illegal, some members of the public still indulged in such discriminatory practices.
