Three co-existing succession-law systems
Nigeria has a genuinely plural inheritance-law system. The Wills Act 1837, a received English statute
still applied in parts of Nigeria, especially the south (though some Nigerian states have domesticated
their own Wills Laws, so the precise applicable statute should be verified for a specific state), governs
formal will-making for the statutory-law population. Islamic law (Sharia) applies to Muslims primarily in
northern states: a Muslim testator may bequeath only up to one-third of the estate to non-heirs or
charity, with the remaining two-thirds following fixed Quranic shares where male heirs generally receive
double the share of female heirs in the same class -- and, notably, Sharia inheritance rules generally do
not extend inheritance rights to non-Muslims, a specific point worth flagging for any NRI-connected family
with a mixed-faith marriage or conversion history. Customary law, which varies materially by ethnic group
(Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, and others), is generally uncodified and case-law-based, and has historically
prioritized male heirs, though Nigerian courts have in recent decades struck down some discriminatory
customary rules.
How a foreign national's estate is likely treated
This platform found no source directly addressing how a foreign national, such as an Indian citizen
resident in Nigeria, is treated for succession purposes under this plural system -- a confirmed gap. It is
reasonable to infer that a foreign national's estate would likely fall under the statutory Wills Act
framework, since customary and Sharia law are tied to ethnic/religious community membership rather than
nationality, but this platform could not confirm this from a primary source and recommends Nigerian
probate counsel for any specific estate.
No estate or inheritance tax in Nigeria
Nigeria currently has no estate or inheritance tax. An inheritance tax existed briefly under Nigeria's
military government from 1979 and was repealed in 1996, and Nigeria's 2025 tax reform (the Nigeria Tax Act
2025) does not reintroduce one. Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of Nigeria's Presidential Committee on Fiscal
Policy and Tax Reforms, specifically corrected a circulating misreport that a provision taxing family
rental income under the reform was a disguised “inheritance tax” -- it is not, and instead
taxes rental income from family-owned property under a mechanism that has existed under Nigeria's Personal
Income Tax Act since independence. Separately, whatever the deceased owned in India is governed by Indian
succession law and procedure.
Common mistakes NRIs and Indian-origin families connected to Nigeria make with succession matters:
- Assuming a single succession-law system applies to every estate in Nigeria, without checking
which of the statutory, Islamic, or customary frameworks actually governs the specific facts.
- Believing the circulating misreport that Nigeria's 2025 tax reform introduced an inheritance
tax.
- Not separately handling the Indian-situs portion of an estate under Indian succession procedure.
