…Accords Women Have Rights To Inheritance
To address excessive spending during marriage ceremonies, the Tor Tiv, James Iorzua Ayatse, has fixed a maximum of N100,000 for marriage-related items.
Similarly, the Tiv council has abolished the “kwase kuhan” festivities traditionally held at the father-in-law’s home and further prohibited cake-cutting at traditional weddings.
The comprehensive changes to longstanding Tiv customs, many see as a historic transformation of the traditional system.
Another new development is that Tiv women have now been accorded full rights to inheritance.
The decision provides for legal backing and court enforcement, a move widely viewed as a progressive step toward strengthening women’s standing within Tiv customary law.
The announcements were made at the Ijir Tamen, the supreme assembly of the Tiv Nation chaired by the paramount ruler and attended by traditional leaders, elders, and Tiv representatives from within Nigeria and the diaspora.
The measures, according to the council, are designed to encourage unity, discipline, financial responsibility, and gender fairness among Tiv people globally.
The council declared zero tolerance for domestic violence, stressing that the ban applies to both men and women without exception.
But the monarch reaffirmed that the traditional kingship institution in Tiv land remains exclusively male, ruling out any possibility of women ascending the royal stool.
The council strongly discouraged lavish ceremonies and extended celebrations, while burial anniversaries and remembrance events were completely outlawed due to what the council described as unnecessary financial burden.
The assembly directed that all funeral activities must be completed within three days and restricted to immediate family members.
The new directives also relieve married women of compulsory financial contributions toward burial expenses in their husbands’ families, except where they willingly decide to assist.
The assembly also sanctioned the creation of a women-oriented financial initiative, BAM, intended to provide loans and boost economic empowerment among Tiv women.
Tor Tiv stressed that the updated cultural codes are binding on Tiv sons and daughters wherever they reside, reinforcing the reach and authority of the Tiv traditional institution beyond territorial borders.
The council also banned the consumption of ogogoro (local gin) throughout the Tiv Kingdom, aiming to promote order and discipline among the people.
The monarch also unveiled plans to establish Tiv Television as a platform to preserve and project Tiv heritage globally.
Although security challenges in Tiv land were discussed during the session, no specific resolutions were made public.
Veteran journalist and recipient of A.B.C Yola, Reporter of the Year Award (1997), Hassan Umar Shallpella, works with WAP as a Regional Correspondence. He was trained at Institute of Mass Communication and Technology Jos and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Training School Lagos.He was a News desk Editor and a Correspondent at the Punch newspaper and till 2019, was the Deputy Editor ofThe Scope newspaper.
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