Thread by @wholewomancoop

As an Igbo woman I can go to ANY part of Yoruba land and buy land, even in their villages, Christian or Muslim or Traditionalist. I have Yoruba female friends who inherit ancestral lands

As a woman I cannot own ancestral land in my village. My brother/cousin has to front for me

These are the honest, difficult, open & meaningful conversatii we need to have as Nigerian women. HOW we can learn from positives of one another and not demean one another

FGM is highest in Osun and Ebonyi states. And lowest in the North. And so, we can learn from the North too.

The challenge of child marriage and it's associated consequences (VVF/lower literacy rates..), are more pronounced in the North. These challenges existed I the SE/SW and were curbed using a combination of approaches. We can all learn from one another.

Across board, uplift women

Everybody wants to pretend that their region is all honky dory wrt women rights. That denial has to stop. Islamic law/hausa culture actually offer some specific protection to widows/divorcees...Like my elderly aunt keeps saying, until you become a widow, you cannot vouch for ours

Frankly speaking, I think we are at that place where from birth, we begin to teach both boys AND girls to be financially/psychologically healthy/independent. And let them know/exercise their boundaries equally. And learn to cook/cater to their needs. The "Oriaku" era is long gone

For instance, our villages in the SE could become hubs for development if we simply built separate professionally run cemeteries and STOP burying our kith/kin on our ancestral lands. Open up some lands for investment instead of mansions used only for 2 weeks annually, in December

I am convinced that for Nigeria to develop & TRANSFORM, it must become more inclusive of competent/ethical/visionary/creative women/youths

E.g Simply absurd that @NGRSenate has NOT passed the #GeoBill or that Govt has FAILED to #ReformPoliceNG esp re Rape culture/DV/other crimes

Can we talk about how in markets, our sons/brothers are mostly the ones shoving/fondling/making sexist remarks/tapping body parts..of women/girls without permission? Can we talk about young ladies complaining incessantly and yet we are not evolving this horrid permissive culture?

Pls may you speak with at least 12 Igbo women who are widows/gave birth to only daughters, to share their experiences with their late husband's family around inheritance/property rights, especually re his ancestral land. Then come back let's have open/honest discussion on culture

And can we talk about how we are always harping on the North about child marriage but refuse to face/address FGM or rape culture or baby factories or minors being assaulted in ala-igbo? Do you realise that the entire SE does NOT have more than 2 SARCs? And both are privately run?

Can we talk about how 5 SE states have domesticated CRA but NONE has a well formed strategy to implement child rights? Can we talk about elite using under-aged for maids and mistreating them? Can we talk about gross human rights violations an unconscionable unjust caste systems?

Can you actually allow women talk about women issues without forcing down your experiences or opinions on us, being that you are not women in the first place?🙄Can we rest the ego for a bit and talk of gang rapes in our schools/towns/cities? Girls are crying out. And boys too..

Anyway, systemic series of rapes in schools triggered these tweets. Turns out school authorities were trying to bury the story. To save the reputation of the school. The girls (victims) were being shushed and NOT given ANY psycho-social support/therapy. A "god-fearing" school🙄😡

And we will set up different fora (live/recorded; open/closed), to actually begin to talk about these issues...

Culture is a way of life.

It is not static. It must evolve and be dynamic.

Only we can change our communities. Inclusivity matters. The time for ego-speak is gone!!

In parts of Igbo land, father dies, and leaves everything NOT to the wife that has toiled with him for decades, not to ALL his children but only to his SONS. And yet the daughters are to look after their mothers, sometimes with no help from their brothers.
Pls let's discuss well