Women in Abia can now own land against custom, tradition, says Ikpeazu

From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja

Former Governor of Abia State Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu has said that following his passion for women development, he signed a law making it possible for them to inherit their fathers’ property and own community land.

The law also allows them to be allocated land as against the customs and tradition which made it difficult for them to own land in their communities.

“Today in Abia State, female children can now inherit their fathers’ property. Now it’s an offence for female children not to be allocated land. The female children can now inherit their fathers’ property” he noted.

Speaking on the sideline of Gender and Inclusion Summit, organised by the Policy Innovation Centre (PIC) of Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) in Abuja, Ikpeazu also recalled that he signed a law against the discrimination of the disabled persons. This made it compulsory for all houses in Abia State to be designed with ramps to enable the disabled easy access.

Earlier, chairman of Policy Innovation Centre (PIC), Mr Udeme Ufot explained that the Gender and Inclusion Summit encompasses women, men, children, youth, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable population.

Nigeria, he noted, has one of the largest population of youth in the world, about 70 per cent of the population is under 35 years old.

“The median age of youth in Nigeria is 18.1 years and 42 per cent are under the age of 15. The size and youthfulness of the Nigerian population offers great potential for innovation, technological advancement and economic development. For this potential to be harnessed, strategic investments in health, education, infrastructural development and job creation is critical while leveraging technology to deliver sustainable development at scale.

“I must commend the efforts of the current government in providing platforms for youth such as the recently-launched initiative to train 3 million tech talents by the Ministry of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy. We have a collective responsibility to develop inclusive approaches to address barriers to quality education, job and internship opportunities and access to health services for Nigeria’s burgeoning youth population,” he stated.