Nigeria's Apex Muslim body criticizes inheritance bill

Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs calls to strike down bill seeking to make women inherit same as male siblings

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) - Nigeria's apex Muslim body has called for parliament to strike down a bill seeking to make women inherit the same portion of their parents' estates as their male siblings, saying sections of the bill offend divine laws.

"While we recognize that in some parts of the country the female folk is treated unjustly and unfairly on the issue of inheritance, this should however not become a justification for the desecration of sacred laws and customs such as that of Islam that are dear to large segments of the Nigerian population," the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) said Thursday in a memo to parliament.

"It is untrue to state that a woman’s share of inheritance is always half of that of her male counterpart. Among the four instances in which the estates of a deceased individual could become due for distribution, it is only in one that the Almighty assigns double share to the male heir," the NSCIA added.

The NSCIA, headed by the sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, is the highest body for the country's nearly 100 million Muslims.

The bill, which recently passed a second reading in parliament, was introduced as a response to discrimination against women in matters of inheritance in some parts of Nigeria where they are denied rights of inheritance.


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