Challenges women face in accessing land
Nana Danladi, 40, from Talata Mafara, Zamfara State, lost her husband after 10 years of marriage. When he was alive, they worked together on the farm which he had inherited from his father.
But after her husband died, Nana said: “His family said I could no longer work on the farm because it belonged to their son and my two sons were still too young to lay any claims to the farm. I didn’t have a chance to negotiate or ask for anything.
“I remarried and it was the same story. I farmed on his land, where he grew soya beans and beans. After about one year, we were divorced. It didn’t matter that we had a daughter who was only twomonthsold at the time. I left with nothing back to my parents’ house from there, other farmers hire me to work on their farms,” the mother of four said.
Her story is no different from that of a lot of women in Nigeria whom the law does not give the right to own farmland. They can only lay claim to a farmland if it belongs to their husbands, fathers, brothers, sons or other male relatives who permit them to work on the land.
While in Nigeria there is still a struggle with reforms of the law as to whether or not women should own farmlands, Niger Republic next door has succeeded in creating a model that allows its women to access land without having to go through any male relatives.
The managing director, Bread and More, Mrs Ade Bakra, says one of the challenges women entrepreneurs face is policies that are not gender friendly. “Till date, a woman cannot own properties of her own except she is married. Even if she wants to use it for her business. There was a time I wanted to get a land for my business, but they said I can get it only when my husband gives his consent.
She continues: “All these policies reduce the strength of the woman in business because if you need it for business purpose, they will tell you that your husband has to agree and if he is not a risk taker, then you cannot get it and they have limited that business. These are policies that we have that are not gender friendly,” Bakra said.
Responding to the issues,Barrister Okere Kingdom Nnamdi, a legal practitioner and Director, Kingdom Human Right Foundation International says there is nowhere in the constitution that a woman is prohibited from owning land.
“First of all, the constitution, the grundnorm of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Section 43 (1) guarantees every citizen of Nigeria, (male and femaleinclusive) to acquire immovable property anywhere in Nigeria.
“Anyone that is imposing such challenge on a woman is bridging the constitution because there is no section of the constitution that prohibits a woman from owning or acquiring a land/property.
“Any woman who has been denied such opportunity has the right to challenge the decision of whomever in the court of law because that is tantamount to discrimination contrary to Section 42 of the NigerianConstitution. Section 42 Sub-section 1(A) and (B) says that no citizen of Nigeria or of any particular group or sect shall be discriminated against,” Nnamdi says.
Similarly, the immediate past president of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) and country director of IPAS, Bar Hauwa Shekarau, says there is no law that discriminates against a woman owning a land or property in Nigeria.
“I am not aware of any such provision. The constitution in Section 42 prohibits any discrimination on the basis of sex and gender.
“The only challenge I am aware of is in the area of inheritance which is dependable on the area you come from and the native law and custom that is prevalent there. I make reference to the Igbo’s who do not consent to women inheriting land. According to them, the eldest son is the person that inherits land. Even though that custom deprives women from inheriting land, the Supreme Court recently ruled against it. It said that custom is null and void and of no effect because it contradicts the principles of equity and justice and fairness. Any woman that is being discriminated on, stopped from owning land or property can challenge it in court,” Shekarau explains.