AN ANALYSIS OF JUDICIAL PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN NIGERIA: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1         Background to the Study

The protection and enforcement of human rights, should be the core concern of very human as they are rights that one is entitled to by just being a human and it is a universal right. These rights are not rights created by virtue of legislations alone rather, they are inherent. Although, Nigeria has seriously improved in its constitutional provisions regarding human rights, however, there are areas where improvements needs to be made just as the American Human Rights Reports of 2012¹ pointed out, these areas includes; several killings by Boko Haram, abuses and killings by Nigerian forces, absence of equality and problems of freedom of speech. Unfortunately, Africa as a continent has been denoted as the land of unsuccessful, uneven and ill administered conflict that is poverty-ridden.

Also, there appear to be a high level of corruption in the judiciary and the government itself, it is evident by the hounding of corrupt judges by the present President Buhari‟s administration, which lifted the veil of judges for the entire nation to see how the temple of justice has been destroyed because of corruption.²

The judiciary plays a significant role in the promotion and protection of human rights in any country, because it is the last hope of the common man. It is pertinent to note that human rights can be adequately protected by the judiciary if the powers and role of judiciary is preserved and devoid of injustice and corruption.

According to Fahed Abul-Ethem³,„The greatest value of human life is best represented in the recognition of human right and where people are allowed to enjoy and practice these God-given rights without any fear of impunity and to the extent that their civil liberty and humanity is preserved.‟

The judiciary is the power house of justice and they are empowered to determine civil rights and duties of everyone where there are controversies brought before them by the proceedings established and recognized by law.

According to Nwabueze,⁴ the judiciary is empowered to do the following;

1. Compulsorily assume jurisdiction at the instance of a party and inquire into the matter in dispute.

• Authoritatively and conclusively determine the facts in dispute.

• Authoritatively decide the law relevant to the fact in dispute.

• Competently give a decision on the application of the relevant law to the facts and also dispose of the fact in dispute.

• Arrive at a binding decision on the parties to the dispute.

• Authoritatively enforce compliance with the decision readied.

The High Courts, both the Federal and State have jurisdiction to hear and entertain cases

of human right violation by virtue of section 46 (1) of the 1999 Constitution which is a replica of section 42 (1) of the 1999 Constitution. Hence by virtue of the provisions of the Constitution, the protection of human rights is the responsibility of the judiciary as it categorically stated in section 46(1) „that any person who alleges that any of the provisions in this chapter, has been, is being or likely to be contracted in any state in relation to him may apply to a High Court in that state for redress.‟

The rights are entrenched in Chapter Four and Chapter Two of the 1999 Constitution respectively, even though the rights in Chapter Two are expressed to be non-justiciable. The role which the judiciary plays in the protection of human rights can never be over emphasized. In this research work, the problems and prospects of protection of human rights by the judiciary are adequately dealt with. Human rights are so highly placed in every democratic society as such; its importance was expressed by the Court of Appeal in the case of Fawehinmi vs Abacha.⁵ The Courts are open to entertain and decide on the issue of fundamental rights at any time without any restrictions and it is never affected by the statute of limitation. This is a shift from the 1979 Enforcement of Fundamental Rules and it is a significant innovation brought in by the 2009 Enforcement Procedure Rules. This work purports to analyse the issues and challenges of judicial protection of human rights in Nigeria.