HealBridge works with women and children leaving domestic abuse in Nigeria. Safe shelter, counselling, legal help, and a route back to work.
Ask a woman in a customary marriage what stops her leaving and quite often it is not the beatings, the money or the children. It is that her father would have to find the bride price, and her family cannot
Read MoreEnding a marriage in Nigeria depends on how the marriage was contracted. Statutory marriages, customary marriages and Islamic marriages are dissolved through different courts under different rules, and the differences are substantial rather than technical. This is an outline to
Read MoreAlmost every legal question a woman asks us — can I divorce him, what am I entitled to, who gets the children, can I claim maintenance — has the same first answer, which is another question. What kind of marriage
Read MoreMost writing about Nigerian family law describes the High Court. Most women never go near one. They end up in a Customary Court or a Sharia Court, because that is what governs their marriage, and because those courts are nearer,
Read MoreTwo things get confused constantly, and separating them makes everything easier. Child maintenance is money for the children. It is owed because they are his children, and it does not depend on the marriage, on who left, on whose fault
Read MorePeople assume Nigerian law is one thing. For domestic abuse it is not, and the difference is not academic — it decides what you can ask a court for, which court you go to, and how quickly anything happens. This
Read MoreThe Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act, usually shortened to the VAPP Act, was passed in 2015. It is the single most important piece of Nigerian law for anyone experiencing domestic abuse, and it is widely misunderstood in both directions. Some
Read MoreA woman reports an assault. Within days there is a complaint against her: she stole from the house, she abducted the children, she is unfaithful, she is mentally unwell, she is the violent one. This happens often enough that it
Read MoreReporting is a decision, not an obligation, and it is yours to make. This article describes what tends to happen so that you can decide with your eyes open rather than discovering it at the counter. Before you go Take
Read MoreThere is a widespread belief that on divorce everything is divided equally. That is the position in some countries. It is not the general position in Nigeria, and women who assume it are frequently shocked. The realistic picture is that
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HealBridge works with women and children leaving domestic abuse in Nigeria. Safe shelter, counselling, legal help, and a route back to work.
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