In life, not everything practised for generations is sacred. Tradition is meant to protect humanity, and not excuse cruelty. Ignorance is the only inheritance that grows larger when it is shared. For decades, some African parents have unknowingly passed down ignorance; not just through what they teach, but also through what they tolerate. They excuse laziness in the name of their heir. They sometimes enable entitlement, all in the name of tradition. They fail to educate their male children that inheritance is not a reward for birth, but a continuation of responsibility and family legacy.
In some African cultures, the male children grow up very fluent in their sense of entitlement but illiterate in duty. Culture, sadly, has empowered some sons with so much authority, but tradition never taught them how to handle the weight of such a huge responsibility. The culture tells them that “they are entitled because they are the firstborn son and heir to all that their father owns, no matter the circumstance of their birth, or the type of relationship they have with their father. But bond by blood alone has never been proof of character. If it were, some family members would not bleed each other dry.
In some families, these men inherit lands they never tilled, houses they never built, and names they never honoured. Yet, they refuse to inherit responsibility, compassion, care and gratitude. Tradition, unfortunately, has given them legal rights without moral weight, and they carry those privileges loudly like trophies stolen from effort. Some of these children have achieved nothing on their own: no legacy built, no burden carried, and no sweat invested. Yet, they speak so loudly against their parents who did far more than they could ever manage, because of their entitlement mindset.
Even the scriptures never taught us inheritance as entitlement, but as a legacy. Proverbs 13:22 KJV “A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: And the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. This does not say a clever child, nor does it say that a resentful child will get an inheritance. It says that a “good man leaves.” Biblically, inheritance flows from personality, not conflict; from foresight, not force; and from love, not litigation. Yet, somewhere between culture and convenience, we lost the plot. We now raise children who know how to claim, but not how to care.
For instance, successors who were missing from all the struggles and the humble beginnings, how functional can they be when it comes to asset management and all other duties as heirs? Scripture also anticipated this distortion. Proverbs 20:21 KJV says: “An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; But the end thereof shall not be blessed.” This is not just about timing alone; it is also about the perspective. In reality, an inheritance received by just birthright but without honour is already cursed; not by God’s anger, but by its emptiness. Because the scripture teaches inheritance as a gift of foresight, and not a reward for entitlement, culture and ingratitude.
Exodus 20:12 KJV says “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” The Bible never separated an inheritance from honour. Honour comes before benefit; presence comes before possession; and care comes before claims. So any culture that teaches otherwise is not preserving tradition, it is contradicting humanity, truthfulness, and fairness. The most inhumane manifestation of ignorance is selective affection: You did not care if your parents lived well, but you are deeply interested in what they leave behind for you to inherit.
That is not inheritance, it is indeed harvesting without farming. Culture may clap for it, courts may enforce it, the elders may excuse it, but heaven remains silent on entitlement. They quote culture and custom loudly but forget true conscience entirely. How does one who detests the hands that fed them, blame the shoulders that carried them, curse the sacrifices that raised them, yet feel entitled to the fruits of those same sacrifices; and appear promptly when death opens the inventory? Frankly, culture without humanity is theft with ceremony.
Recently, I came across a video of a young lady who visited her parents in the village during the festive season, and some people who saw her father's compound felt it was below standard, and they told her to construct a better house for them. But her response was not surprising at all. After all, women in her culture don't have any rights to an inheritance, so why would she build for another to claim? On reflection, it is fair to say that it is a patriarchal culture that places value on gender over contribution, where birth order and sex are rewarded more than hard work, sacrifice, loyalty, and care.
In some families, the girl child is seen as a labourer without inheritance, a caregiver without recognition, and a pillar without foundations. This is not heritage; it is historical intolerance preserved by silence. Such a culture operates on the belief that males are heirs by default and females are just helpers by obligation. So caregiving is expected of them, but ownership is forbidden. Women are permitted to build the home, but are barred from owning it. Such a culture treats women as temporary custodians, regardless of how permanent their sacrifice has been.
Most times, the women often help their parents through tough times in life like illness, poverty, and old age, while the men are busy with their spouses. But in the end, they are told, politely or brutally that “their reward is in their husband's house.” To me, such a culture contradicts humanity in this day and age, mostly in a situation where both the sons and daughters are heirs of dignity and pride to the family, and their contributions carry significance. Fairness has to outrank culture and any system today that prohibits compensation for sacrifice because of gender preference is standing against human values.
Such practice is morally outdated, unjust, exploitative, patriarchal, and sustained by the fear of change. And most painfully, it is a culture that survives because reasonable people stay silent. A society that eats the labour of its daughters and hands the reward to its sons simply because they are males “for show” is not protecting tradition, it is perfecting injustice. It is a culture that drinks from a woman’s well, yet forbids her from owning the land where water flows. “A child who eats where he did not farm will soon destroy the farm.” Honestly, culture must evolve or it will rot. Africa does not need to abandon its essence, but remember it correctly.
A culture that allows “heirs” to despise their parents while they are still alive, and makes no positive contributions in the family legacy as heirs to inheritance, yet they end up getting rewarded when their parents pass away is not upholding tradition but perfecting cruelty.
Let it be said plainly: If you could not stand by your parents in their lifetime, you have no moral ground to appear when they are no more, or stand on their graves demanding rewards according to tradition. As it has been affirmed that inheritance is a legacy, and not just material gain for the entitled firstborn son alone.
Because successors are not for rewards only; they must also be relevant in the family as stewards of the family legacy. Otherwise, in the future, these same children will age, and they will discover too late that the culture they defended has teeth. The silence they practised will return to them as neglect, and the entitlement they lived by will raise children just like them. Ignorance, after all, is hereditary when left unchallenged.
William Z. Bozimo
Veteran Journalist | Columnist | National Memory Keeper
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