A charity known as The Imah Nsa Adegoke Foundation, TINAF, has intensified its advocacy for the implementation of the Cross River State Female Persons Inheritance of Property Law No 10 of 2007.
The founder, Mrs. Imah Nsa-Adegoke alongside major stakeholders of the charity including notable representatives of widows group, took the awareness campaign across 14 out of the 18 local government areas in Cross River State, south-south Nigeria.
Rights under law
Nsa-Adegoke disclosed that the foundation kicked-off the awareness campaign with advocacy visits to prominent and influential traditional leaders, explaining“this was to ensure they can be aware that the rights of Widows, and children born out of legally contracted marriages to inherit the properties of their husbands and fathers upon their death are secured under the Law with legal penalties for any breach.
According to her, “beginning at the Obong of Calabar’s palace and his Traditional Council of Chiefs on the 25th of January 2022, the Foundation in the past five weeks visited 14 Local Government Areas meeting with the paramount rulers and their chiefs. We have 4 remaining LGAs to visit.”
Commitment to change
The founder hinted that Boki and Bekwara council areas in the central and northern districts of Cross River had impressively taken drastic measures to change harmful widowhood practices in their locality and deserved commendation for the feat achieved.
Nsa-Adegoke stated, “we found that the traditional councils there had already enacted and captured in writing major shifts to their respective customs.
“TINAF believes these two LGAs deserve our award and that of other agencies working to improve female wellbeing and equality,” she said.
“In the southern region of Cross River harmful and dehumanizing practices against widows were now rare as opposed to what still obtains in the central and northern areas as excluding and denying them the right of inheritance were still very prevalent across board.
“Our campaign was therefore welcomed by most of the paramount rulers, who had been inundated with trying to settle inheritance matters on the basis of equity. Some informed us they had been challenged by the existing customs but with knowledge of the provisions of this Law, they were now emboldened to act,” she further stated.
Yielding results
Nsa-Adegoke further disclosed that the awareness campaign to some of these areas was yielding positive results, noting “no more than a few days after visiting the northern LGAs, we began to get calls from a paramount ruler and a referral from the Nigeria Police Force unit handling such matters in one of the locality requesting counsel on some inheritance matters, which had come up.
“So, we can assuredly say that the response has been indeed great and is yielding immediate fruit. The foundation looks forward to completing the campaign in the remaining LGAs shortly and to setting up partnerships with legal firms in the three senatorial districts to handle matters as they unfold,” she added.
