Safeguarding the Rights of women and children upon divorce under Customary Law in Nigeria

The rights of women and children are often trampled upon when there is a divorce under customary law. The customary law wife is responsible for taking care of her husband and children sometimes without assistance and she basically has no life of her own without her husband. Her identity is subsumed in those of her husband she is basically entitled to what her husband allows. Her children also suffer when there is a divorce as they are usually given to their father who may not have any means of taking care of them. The right of a father over children is one of ownership so it is irrelevant whether he can care for the children as much as their mother would have done. There is apparently no equity for the customary wife when there is a divorce, regardless of how long she had been married to her husband, except with few exceptions she is generally not entitled to the ancillary reliefs of maintenance, custody and settlement of property. The scope of this work is limited to the rights a woman and her children have when she is divorced under customary law and how these right should be protected. This work found out that unless positive laws provide for the protection of the customary wife, she will continue to be in a disadvantaged and unfair position when there is a divorce. The research methodology adopted is the doctrinal research methodology. This work also proffers solution to the plight of the customary law wife.