In Benue State’s Idoma area, the customary bride price has been codified and set at fifty thousand naira alone.

The Idoma Area Traditional Council (IATC) made this revelation on Wednesday at the conclusion of their meeting in Otukpo.

The IATC said that after extensive deliberation with political figures, rulers, and most crucially, their God-given people, it came to this far-reaching conclusion.

Additionally, it said that many severe, self-imposed cultural practices had been eliminated from the people’s customs and traditions.

In the best interests of its people, the IATC commanded all Idoma-speaking people to rigorously abide by all of its judgments.

Among the council’s rulings was the ban on expensive funeral customs, particularly those that imposed pricey guidelines, restrictions, and prescriptions on the grieving family for the interment of a deceased person in Idoma territory.

According to the IATC, it is illegal to deny a deceased person’s children and/or wife(s) the right to inherit their property in the region.

It said that it is forbidden for relatives to refuse and deprive the surviving spouses and children of a deceased person of their right to inherit the deceased person’s belongings.

For the avoidance of doubt, in the event that a deceased person leaves behind a wife or wives and children, those children and their spouses will be given priority when allocating the inheritance if there is no written will.

The new law permits a deceased person’s wife to be buried in her husband’s grave, with the exception of certain situations in which the wife was married to and had children for multiple men during her lifetime. In these situations, the wife may be buried in her father’s grave to enable participation in the funeral rites by additional husbands and children.

According to the new law by the IATC, all sorts of strict requirements, restrictions, and expectations related to conventional marriage are henceforth eliminated and forbidden.

The recently established IATC expressed disapproval of the careless interment of bodies both inside and outside of communities, particularly in residential areas, declaring that such practices are forbidden and ordering all communities to construct a cemetery.

“If a person needs to be buried inside or near the compound for any special reason, the Traditional Ruler’s permission must be requested and obtained first, and the burial site or grave must be marked and secured.”