We decided to re post this article we had years ago. Its an award winning article.
Today, on the blog we decided to take you back to our mind blowing posts without having to edit much so you could hold on to the substance of our previous posts.
Justista, the Roman deity that represents justice is
female. She is the ancestor of the modern-day,
double-edged-sword-wielding, scale-carrying, Lady
Justice who stands (or sits as the case may be)
outside every court room or institution saddled with
the responsibility of upholding the law of any
community.
Yet, many people agree with the view American
feminist and lawyer, Catherine Mackinnon expressed
in her essay Feminism, Marxism,
Method, and the State: Toward
Feminist Jurisprudence, that “the state is
male and the law is an expression of a male point of
view…The law sees and treat women the way the
men see and treat women.”
Mackinnon’s assertion is particularly true in Nigeria, in
view of the language used in the Nigerian
Constitution, where “his and he” were used for
humans, except for sections concerning women or
children, and in most cases these references
emphasise the fact that women are considered
second class citizens, it makes women “the other”.
“Women” was used twice in the constitution (in
connection with Social Services), women were, of
course, grouped with children because it stands to
reason that women need “nurturing” since they are in
the same group with the “disadvantaged” and are
considered “vulnerable” by the Nigerian State.
This assertion is proven under the law establishing
Abuja as the Federal Capital Territory which states
that “Social Services and Development
includes the provision of a nurturing
environment for women and children
in the Territory, seeing critical social
enablers such as the provision of
microfinance for vulnerable and
disadvantage groups…” (Establishment of
Functionaries and Departments) and Ministry of the
Federal Capital Territory (Dissolution) Order No. 1,
2004 S.I.4 Of 2005
The word “woman” also appeared in the Nigerian
Constitution twice, the first was in Section 26,
subsection 2(a) which says that a person may be
registered as a citizen of Nigeria if the president is
satisfied that the person has good character, shown
a desire to be domiciled in Nigeria and has taken
the Oath of Allegiance but the section only applies
to –
(a) any woman who is or has been
married to a citizen of Nigeria;
What the section says in essence is that only
Nigerian men can bequeath their citizenship on their
spouses. So, if a Nigerian woman marries a foreigner,
he is not eligible for Nigerian citizenship (kind of
similar to traditional marriage in some Nigerian
communities, once a woman gets married, she is no
longer considered part of her parents community).
It was used again in Section 29, subsection 4(b),
where, in spite of the fact that the subject of
renunciation of citizenship was being addressed, our
lawmakers were able to sneak in the point that “any
woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full
age”, and since the Matrimonial Causes Acts (CAP
220 LFN) did not provide any minimum age for
marriage, it means a girl married off at say, three
years of age, is considered an adult in Nigeria.
The law specifically allows an under aged married
woman to revoke her citizenship even when she has
not attained the constitutional voting age and there
is no corresponding provision treating a male married
minor as an adult. A female minor is allowed to
marry, but not allowed to vote… in Nigeria.
A Police woman must submit her prospective husband
details for approval before marriage. As a “vulnerable”
set of creatures, the Nigerian Police insists that
women police must apply for permission to marry, in
case she’s stupid (as women are considered to be)
enough to marry a criminal or maybe someone just
not “good enough” for her.
Police Regulation Act, 124. Women police to apply
for permission to marry [L.N. 93 of 1968.]
A woman police officer who is
desirous of marrying must first apply
in writing to the commissioner of
police for the State Police command
in which she is serving, requesting
permission to marry and giving the
name, address, and occupation of
the person she in- tends to marry.
Permission will be granted for the
marriage if the intended husband is
of good character and the woman
police officer has served in the Force
for a period of not less than three
years . [L.N. 93 of 1968.]
The Nigerian Police is your friend, and your father
and your “big brother”, looking out for you because
you are the “weaker” sex and cannot make sane
decisions, particularly when you’re about to make a
life changing decision, like … marriage and because
of their kindness they will not allow you to marry as
soon as you join the force, you need to wait for a
period of three years. Unfortunately, under-aged girls
do not get to enjoy this luxury because they did not
join the Nigerian Police.
No similar provision is made for men, therefore a
male police officer can marry anybody, at any time,
because, they are the more intelligent set of human
beings.
Not wanting to be left out, the Nigerian Labour law
states in Section 55 that:
‘…no woman shall be employed on
night work in a public or private
industrial undertaking or in any
branch thereof, or in any agricultural
undertaking or any branch
thereof.’ (2) Subsection (1) of this
section shall not apply to women
employed as nurses, in any public or
private industrial undertaking or in
any agricultural undertaking, nor to
women holding responsible positions
of management who are not
ordinarily engaged in manual labour’.
We believe that this is due to the fact that the
primary “work” of a woman is done properly “at
night” preferably “in bed”. Although female nurses
are exempt from this wonderful clause, female
doctors are not (or maybe they were left out
because there are NO female doctors in Nigeria!)
The upside of this law is that since there are no
laws in place concerning sex work in Nigeria – yes
you read that right, sex-work is not illegal in Nigeria
( not in the constitution, criminal code or penal
code were they mentioned), sex workers are allowed
to work during the daytime.
Section 56 of the Act also provides:
(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this
section, no woman shall be employed
on underground work in any mine.
(2) Subsection (1) of this
section shall not apply to:
(a) Women holding positions of
management who do not perform
manual labour; or
(b) Women employed in health
and welfare services; or
(c) Women who in course of their
studies spend a period of training in
underground parts of a mine; or
(d) Any other woman who may
occasionally have to enter the
underground parts of mine for the
purpose of a non-manual occupation.
Nigerian women are not allowed to be miners, or
archeologists, or cave explorers, except when you’re
studying to be a miner or an archeologist, but after
your study you may “occasionally” enter the
underground parts.
In the criminal code, the indecent assault of a
female as a misdemeanour punishable by imprisonment
of a statutory maximum of two years (see Section
222 Criminal Code Act Cap 38 LFN). If the girl is
thirteen years old, the maximum imprisonment is
three years, while the same offence when committed
against a male attracts punishment with a term of
imprisonment of more than three years.
The above code is the endorsement of the widely
held belief that boys are more “important”, more
“valuable” than girls, because assaulting a girl can only
get you two years imprisonment but if you dare
assault a boy, then you’re in for a long haul in the
Nigerian prisons system.
In order to make no bones about the position of the
‘Nigerian People’ on domestic violence and child
abuse the penal code Section 55. (1) states that
“Nothing is an offence which does not amount to the
infliction of child, pupil, grievous hurt upon a person
and which is done-…”
(d) by a husband for the purpose of
correcting his wife such husband and
wife being subject to any customary
law in which the correction is
recognised as lawful.
This is an express permission for wife-beating insofar
as it does not cause grievous harm (S55 of the
Penal Code). The defence f:-) or reasonable
chastisement is that the husband and wife are subject
to native law and custom that recognises such
corrections.
In Nigerian English, you may beat your wife or child,
as long as you do not cause “grievous harm” to them,
the question now is, who measures what “grievous
harm” is, does it mean you may break an arm or a leg
as long as it’s not totally detached from your victim’s
body, or is there a specific amount of blood,
considered “grievous”?
From the above, it is apparent that Justista has
Nigeria is blind to equality, Nigerian law is not a lady
… Nigerian law is not a gentleman.
Follow us on Twitter @Osikharita
If you enjoyed this article, please use the buttons below to share it on social media and subscribe to our email by entering your email address on our subscription box. Once you do that, you will get notified when new content is published.
Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment