Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Theses and Dissertations

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Browsing Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Theses and Dissertations by Author "ADEPOJU Adebiyi Anthony"

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    Rights of widows under customary laws of inheritance in South-western states of Nigeria
    (Faculty of law, Obafemi Awolowo University., 2022) ADEPOJU Adebiyi Anthony
    The study discussed the evolution, nature and characteristics of customary laws of Yoruba people of South-Western Nigeria. It analysed the rules of inheritance under the customary law of the Yoruba people. It also appraised the rights of widows to inheritance as well as challenges militating against customary laws of inheritance in South-Western Nigeria. These were with a view to bringing into limelight how windows‟ rights of inheritance could be preserved through appropriate legislation. This study relied on primary and secondary sources of information. The primary source included legislation such as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As altered), Statutes such as the Wills Act of 1837, Administration of Estates Laws of the various states of Nigeria, Judicial Precedents, Customs and Cultural practices relating to widows‟ statutes and inheritance rights of six states of South-Western Nigeria, Treaties and Conventions of Widows‟ rights. The secondary source included books, journal articles, periodical, newspapers, magazines, conference proceedings, the internet as well as unstructured interviews. The results showed that customary laws of inheritance in South-Western Nigeria are unwritten, varied from one locality to another, therefore, not codified into one single document. The rules of inheritance in the aforementioned states of South-Western Nigeria favoured only male gender. The study also showed that Yoruba Customary laws of inheritance discriminated against widows of customary law marriage and denied them their inheritance rights. The study further showed that the challenges experienced in inheritance process is as a result of pluralistic nature of inheritance laws in South-Western Nigeria. The study concluded that unification, integration and harmonization of laws of inheritance as possible viable means to eliminate the various challenges, discrimination, conflicts and the attendant problems. To achieve the above-stated suggested law reform, a scheme of legal unification be put in place as will be attempted in the subsequent chapters.