INVESTIGATING DAUGHTERS’ INHERITANCE IN IGBOLAND: THE AWGU CUSTOMARY EXAMPLE

Abstract

In Igbo land, there is a raging controversy over daughters’ inheritance. Some cultures say that daughters do not inherit landed properties from their parents rather they inherit movable properties; that it is only immovable properties that they do not inherit because they are meant to be married to other families. This work investigates daughters’ inheritance in Awgu. The study is a survey research and it is carried out in Awgu. The population of the study incorporates Awgu titled men who are knowledgeable in the area of inheritance, and young men who have inherited properties from their parents. Data were collected through oral interviews and from books relating to the topic. The data collected are analyzed using functionalist theory propounded by Emile Durkheim to showcase the functions of family as a social structure where culture and tradition of the land are transmitted to the younger generation so as to maintain order and stability in the society. It fiunds out that indeed, Igbo culture does not leave her daughters to go empty handed on inheritance issues. They are given properties at marriage (dowry) which will help them to settle down comfortably in their husband’s homes. A father is allowed, in Igbo culture, to give his daughter a parcel of land outside his ancestral home in the olden days as an expression of gratitude to that daughter of his for taking good care of them (her parents). This work is condemning the idea of a daughter inheriting landed property from the parents. The research therefore recommends that this custom of inheritance in Igbo land be retained as it strives to avoid rift between brothers and their sisters’s children- ụmụdịala.