Within the family compound, the senior male member (or in some communities, for example, Yoruba and Efik, a female member (if she is the most senior), is the h e a d l a n d he has certain obligations and rights. For example, it is his duty to allocate the family land, and to settle disputes among members of the family. Thus dis putes among resident members and their wives are subject to
Zi
his authority, but the heads of the extended families of 1. See Forde, The Yoruba-Speaking Peoples of South-Western
N i g e r i a , op.c i t .. p . 12; Fadipe. The Sociology of the Yoruba, o p .c i t .. p.98; Bradbury and Lloyd, The Benin Kingdom, o p . c i t .. pp.27-28.
2. See Ward Price. Land Tenure in the Yoruba Provinces,
op.c i t .. par. 17, p. 6. ' ’
3. The head of a family is called bale among the Yorubas, okpala or diokpala among the Igbos; emi t s o . among the Nupe, - see I^orde, Peoples of the Niger-Benue C onfluence, op.c i t .. p.31*
4. The three types of family form a hierarchy, insofar as the head of the nuclear or polygynous family may be
under the head of the extended family (minimal lineage), who may, in turn, be subjected to the head.of the
the wives may intervene on their behalf if necessary.1 p
In Balogun v. B a l o g u n , G r a h a m . , J . . described the functions of the head of a family as follows:
"The head of the family is in charge and control of the family property; he collects the revenue of family property; he has to make certain dis bursement out of family revenue for family
purposes, upkeep of the family property, ^funeral, marriage and baptism ceremonial expenses of members often involving the entertainment of strangers, litigations on behalf of the family, maintenance of indigent members of the family, education of children and so o n ” .
The extended family, however, is composed of families which 'are independent of non-members as regards the management of their own affairs,^ provided they act in accordance w ith the accepted norms of the society. In times of need, for example, sickness, death or other
adversity, the extended family is a reservoir of material and moral aid.^
The wider family of a deceased founder may be composed of several sets of extended families (maximal lineages) and number thousands of people all tracing their descent to a common deceased ancestor. Thus a whole village
1. For the obligations and duties of the head of an extended family see, Forde and Jones, 1967, p . 15; Bradbury and Lloyd, The Benin Kingdom: And the Edo-Speaking Peoples of South-Western N i g e r i a , 1970 > P . ^9; F a d i p e , JEe Sociology of the Yorubas. p p . 105-114; Chinwuba Obi, Modern Family Law in Southern N i g e r i a . (London, Sweet
and Maxwell, 19bb) pp.27-52; C.K. Meek, Law and Authority pp.61-62; 104-114; G.T. Basden, Niger I b o s . p p . 121 and 151; T.O. Elias, Nigerian Land LawT p p . 103-114; Waddell, Twenty Nine years in the West Indi e s ,o p .c i t ., p.313;
Ward ffrice, Land Tenure in bhe YoruSa' Provinces, o p . c i t ., p a r . 45, p. 14. .
2. [1935]2 W.A.C.A. 290, 299; see also Ononye v. Obanye and O r s . [1945]ll W.A.C.A. 60 at p . 62. In Fatai Adisa
Anibire and Anor v. Howells and A n o r ; it was held that the concept of "head o f .family" in customary law need not be proved b y evidence, but should be judicially noticed. Fatai Adisa Anibire and Ors. v. Howells and A n o r . [1973J5 U.l.L.R. 3b. — '
3. ihere are exceptions to this pattern, see Wilson-Haffenden, The Red Men of Nig e r i a , op.c i t .^ p. 275.
4. The operation of the system was fully illustrated during the Nigerian Civil War, when many people from the Eastern States were forced to return pennyless, and often wounded, to their home-towns. where they were given succour by
may claim descent from a common ancestor.^ This wider group is variously referred to as patrilineal lineage,
2 clan, tribe or sub-tribe.
The solidarity and importance of the extended
family has been somewhat weakened in modern Nigerian society, due to a variety of causes among w h ich the following may be m e n t i o n e d :
(i) The influence of Islam: Islamic law recognizes only the nuclear or polygynous family, consisting of a man, his wife or wives, his children, his slaves and their children. Generally, after the adoption of Islam, the traditional extended family is maintained, but in a modified form, while the nuclear and polygynous fam ilies receive greater recognition. The process of change begins w i t h the disappearance of the ancestor cult. One of the main functions of the head of the extended family is the performance of rituals connected w ith deceased ancestors, and the major source of his authority derives from the supernatural. W i t h the adoption of Islam the dead lose their influence over the lives of the living, and the unity of the old community is consequently breached. The Yorubas are a notable exception in this respect.^
1. The Oloto family of Lagos, and the Amobi family of Ogidi are two examples of such large extended families.
2. Compare e.g. Talbot, The Peoples of Southern N i g e r i a . Vol. IV, pp.39-41; M e e k « Law and A u t h o r i t y ...,p p .3-^:
S.N. Chinwuba Obi, The Ibo Law of Pro p e r t y .(London. Butterworths, 1963),p p . 4-23; ^orde, the Yoruba-Speaking Peoples, o p .c i t ., pp.10-13? B a s c o m , .The Yoruba of South western Nigeria, o p . c i t .. p. 42-46.
3. See Spencer J. Trimmingham, Islam in West Africa. (London, Oxford University Press, 1959, 6th imp. 1 9 7 6 ; .pp.126-130. 4. The Yoruba family structure has successfully-resisted
the disintegrative influences of Islam and Christianity, and to a lesser extent modern urbanization and industrial ization, see J.N.D. Anderson, Islamic Law in A f r i c a ,
(London, Frank Cass and Co. 1955, new imp. 19 W )
pp. 222-224; Trimmingham, Islam in West A f r i c a , p. 129. See Aldous, "Urbanization and K i n s h i p 11 in Social Problems of Change and Conflict edit, by Pierre Van D e n Berghe
(California, Chandler Publishing Company, 1965) pp.424-425.
(ii) The adoption, of Christianity:.. This has also been a frequent cause of the fragmentation of compounds, especially in the,urban areas, and the abolition of traditional rituals also had an adverse effect on the family unity of Christians.
(iii) Modern economic conditions: Economic conditions in modern Nigeria make it possible for members of the family to live and work, or trade far away from their home towns or villages. This has led to the growth, and even perhaps ascendancy, of individualism, and the development of the biological family unit at the expense of the extended group.
(iv) The acquisitive nature of modern society is destructive of family unity. E ach segment of the family, w i t h a ' v i e w to securing a position of predominance and the
major part of the family wealth, tendsto sacrifice . the general welfare of the extended family as a group.
This tendency is particularly acute in polygynous families, where children of the same father b u t . different mothers have a rooted dislike and distrust of each other, and jealousy, fostered by their
mothers, is rife.^"
(v) One of the most important functions of the family head was to act as arbitrator or even judge in inter family disputes, including disputes among members of the family and their spouses. Nowadays, the ten dency is to take such disputes to a court of law, thus eroding the traditional importance of the family as a group.^
1. See further, below, Chapter IV, p p .356-358.
2. The Population Census of Eastern Nigerian Report, 1953, p.56, states: "While most minor disputes are settled in family meetings, a very large number of cases go to Court, and a few years ago it was possible to calculate that on the average, every man, woman and child had been in court, either as principal or witness during the year. About one-fifth of these cases are about land and about three-fifths about marriage, bride-price or the custody of children” .
(vi) Unlike the traditional society, where a man derived 'his position in the wider political and social
community, and his rights and privileges accrue to him, only as a member of his extended family, in the modern cities, a p e r s o n fs political, social, or economic position may be unrelated to his extended f a m i l y group. A man is capable of maintaining him self and his immediate family, by the sale of goods or his personal services without resort to the
extended family.1 This means that a communal pattern of behaviour has been largely replaced by an indiv idualistic one.
Group consciousness, characteristic of Nigerians, is being replaced by the desire for independence, and the assertion of individual right and freedom, most evident among high school graduates immigrants in urban centers. Although familial attachments are still common in urban areas, yet these are found mostly among the illiterate migrants or seasonal workers. M a n y people living in Lagos have not visited their home towns in the Eastern States