25. Nigeria

The study interrogates globalization and human rights in Nigeria. Scholars are divided on their views on the relationship between globalization and human rights. The proponents are of the view that globalization favours the developing countries and makes their countries to join global market, shift from production of raw materials to manufacturing of goods and services for rapid growth and development. While the opponents view globalization as an evil wind that blows no good to the poor countries. Nigeria return to democratic governance in 1999 raises the hope that human rights abuse in the globalization will reduce. On the contrary human rights violation is on the increase. This study is aimed at examining how has globalization impacted on human rights in Nigeria. Data for the study were generated through secondary sources. The study used trend research analysis in analyzing the data, the Neo-liberal theory was applied, as it encourages the idea of dependence by the capitalist countries. The study discovered that globalization has not impacted respect for human rights in Nigeria. The study recommended among other things, that Nigeria should punish human rights offenders and create a conducive environment to allow for cordial relationship of globalization and human rights.

This research work examines police brutality and violation of human rights in Nigeria – causes and its implications. The objectives of the study is to establish some cases of police brutality in Nigeria; to investigate the causes of police brutality and violation of human rights in Nigeria; to ascertain the implications of police brutality in Nigeria and to recommend ways to prevent police violence in Nigeria. To be able to achieve these objectives, four research questions were raised, such as, are there testimonies and evidences of human rights violation in Nigeria by the police? What are the causes of police brutality and violation of human rights in Nigeria? What are the implications of police brutality in Nigeria? How can police brutality and violation of human rights be prevented in Nigeria? The study made use of descriptive analytical method to analyze data gotten from secondary source such as academic journals, Newspaper publications, Television documentaries, Internet, relevant textbooks etc. Albert Bandura Social learning theory was adopted in this research, which explains that police, violates people’s right with impunity because they watch as other officers who violate people’s rights are not well sanctioned. The research reveals that police brutality in Nigeria has led to loss of lives, torture of detainees and extortion of suspects. Some of the recommendations are; The Nigerian police commission should strictly investigate and sanction erring officers, there should be a proper police reform, men of the Nigerian police should be subjected to a thorough mental examination before engaging them to service etc.

The place of the mass media in the promotion of human rights in any given society cannot be overemphasised; the mass media generally, can be used to bring about positive attitudinal change in the individuals. Thus, the paper examines the role of the media in the promotion of human rights in Nigeria; it explores the various ways through which the media can be used to promote human rights in Nigeria; some of the various ways identified in the paper are: through editorials, features, news commentaries, discussion programmes. The paper identifies the basic human rights to include: right to life, right to dignity of human beings, right to personal liberty, right to fair hearing, right to compensation from property compulsorily acquired, right to private and family life, right to freedom of thoughts, conscience and religion, right to peaceful assembly and association, right to freedom of movement, among others. The paper discovers that the Nigerian populace does not enjoy these rights, as these rights are still trampled upon in most cases. More so, the paper identifies that the mass media have not really been effective in the promotion of human rights in Nigeria. Thus, it proposes that the media, both electronic and print, should be used to promote the issue of human rights in Nigeria, so that people will know their rights. Key Words: Human Rights, Violation, Human Rights Promotion and the Mass Media

Staving-Off the Menace of Human Trafficking in Africa and Rethinking the Way Forward: Nigeria, a Case in Point

The long period of military rule in Nigeria was characterized by lack of respect for the human rights of citizens. The reinstatement of democracy in 1999 was viewed as a milestone in Nigeria’s stride towards respect for human rights. Unfortunately, democracy as it is practiced in Nigeria has not improved respect for human rights. ‘This necessitates the r=: why has human rights violation persisted ill Nigeria in spite of democratic rule? This paper identifies three reasons why human rights violations persist in the fourth republic.

Human rights are those inalienable rights that are basically accruable to every human person or citizen of a country. In Nigeria, the human rights situation is worrisome to say the least, as the nation goes on pursuing her phantom democratisation objectives. Against the background of a vibrant and popular film culture in Nigeria, this study has investigated the role of film in the advancement of human rights ideals. Using two films produced in Nigeria's vibrant film industry Nollywood,- Charles Offor's Bloody Night and Kwame Boadu & Frank Rajah Arase's Somewhere in Africa; the study paradigmatically interrogates issues of human rights portrayed in the films. The study is qualitative in approach, combining both textual analysis and focus group discussion (FGD). The films under study were subjected to textual analysis while two FGD sessions were conducted among randomly selected students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria - six discussants for each session. The data from the textual analysis and FGSD were separately analysed. Findings show that the two films are able to project the systemic inadequacies of human rights culture in Nigeria and offer an ideological alternative, and that the audience understood the film's message in the context of the quest for human rights in Nigeria and were able to relate the situations portrayed in the films to their own real life situations as Nigerians.Keywords: Film, human rights, human rights culture, human rights situation

This paper examined issues of national security and human rights in Nigeria with emphasis on the conflicts between the federal government and the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN). The objectives of the paper included to determine the nature of national security and human rights in Nigeria vis-à-vis the Islamic Movement of Nigeria; identity the contentious issues that triggered the conflicts and undermined national security and human rights between the federal government and the Islamic Movement of Nigeria; determine the implications of continued crackdown of IMN members and detention of their leader, El-Zakzaky and his wife on national security and human rights violations in Nigeria, and make necessary recommendations on how these issues can be amicably resolved without compromising national security and human rights of Nigerians, especially IMN members. This research has become imperative in view of the continued detention of Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky by the security operatives in Nigeria since 2015 in spite of court orders without concluding the trials. This has caused great concern to Nigerians with daily debates on the implications of this prolonged incarceration of the duo on national security and human rights in a democratic system of government. This paper was anchored on the “Family Theory in Clinical Practice”. The ‘Family Theory’ stressed the need to understand and consider the emotional functioning of a family or group as the basis for religious or political indoctrination, radicalisation, extremism and deviant behaviour that may be antagonistic to acceptable societal norms and values. This paper adopted descriptive research design. Data used for the study were gathered from secondary sources as content analysis was used in the interpretation of data. The paper found that the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) members were justified in their protest against military crackdown, detention and proscription. The paper observed that the over five year’s detention of Sheikh El-Zakzaky by the Nigerian government without trial amounts to the violation of his constitutionally guaranteed and legally protected human rights. This paper recommends the immediate and unconditional release of the Shiites leader from detention, speedy trial and respect for judicial pronouncements by the Nigerian government without compromising national security and human rights.

Studies have further shown that homophobia in Africa is often tied to British colonial laws, such as the Labouchere Amendment (Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885) that had shown contempt for sexual minorities. Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, which were former British colonies, still cling on to these colonial laws, which have long been repealed in Britain. Using a qualitative research design that will involve doctrinal research on local and international law instruments like the Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law, and case studies, it was determined that sexual minority freedom indicates the general condition of human rights in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya. It was argued that the Commonwealth of Nations is a platform that could be used to engage human rights in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, since these countries share a common colonial influence in their histories. However, cultural relativist interpretations of human rights and sovereignty are impediments to the interventions of the Commonwealth. It was concluded that establishing credible commitment for the Commonwealth of Nations, will help in ensuring the capacity needed to protect the rights of sexual minorities and improving the general condition of human rights in Nigeria and Ghana.

It is no news that Nigeria, which is arguably the giant of Africa, is known for human rights violations. From its years of military authoritarianism which witnessed the killing of several human rights activists, and since the return to democratic rule, the country’s human rights narrative has not changed. Government authorities and law enforcement agents (the police) frequently engage in various human rights violations, notably unlawful killings, torture, ill-treatment of no crime suspects, forced evictions, interference with the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of association, and violence against women and children are widespread across the country. This has created worrisome threats to lives and government seems to be grappling with the situation, hence there is some measure of friction between the activities of security agencies and human right in Nigeria. It is against this backdrop that pertinent questions are asked on how well security agencies could be operated without infringement on fundamental human rights and what are the probable mechanisms that could be adopted by security agencies without abuse of human rights in Nigeria. Answers to these questions instigated this research work. This study exemplified the extent of human rights abuses in Nigerian democratic governance. It equally highlighted causes and the effects of human rights abuses in Nigeria and made recommendations on how to prevent its occurrences in the future. Secondary sources of data thus become the hub of its methodology. The study adopted system theory by Gabriel Almond as its theoretical framework.

It is no news that Nigeria, which is arguably the giant of Africa, is known for human rights violations. From its years of military authoritarianism which witnessed the killing of several human rights activists, and since the return to democratic rule, the country’s human rights narrative has not changed. Government authorities and law enforcement agents (the police) frequently engage in various human rights violations, notably unlawful killings, torture, ill-treatment of no crime suspects, forced evictions, interference with the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of association, and violence against women and children are widespread across the country. This has created worrisome threats to lives and government seems to be grappling with the situation, hence there is some measure of friction between the activities of security agencies and human right in Nigeria. It is against this backdrop that pertinent questions are asked on how well security agencies could be operated without infringement on fundamental human rights and what are the probable mechanisms that could be adopted by security agencies without abuse of human rights in Nigeria. Answers to these questions instigated this research work. This study exemplified the extent of human rights abuses in Nigerian democratic governance. It equally highlighted causes and the effects of human rights abuses in Nigeria and made recommendations on how to prevent its occurrences in the future. Secondary sources of data thus become the hub of its methodology. The study adopted system theory by Gabriel Almond as its theoretical framework.

Civil society organizations are key actors in the promotion and protection of human rights in Nigeria and have participated in all the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) circles of the Government of Nigeria. The UPR is a first of its kind innovation adopted in 2006 by the Human Rights Council to complement the works of treaty bodies and involves the review on a periodic basis, the human rights records of all Member States of the United Nations. As a peer review process comprising three distinct stages and involving three major sources of information, this article exclusively ex-rays the UPR civil society report on the implementation of Nigeria’s international human rights obligations. As one of the three sources of information relied upon by the Human Rights Council in the Universal Periodic Review of the human rights record of the Government of Nigeria, this article, while focusing on the civil society information submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/251 concludes that despite advances in the promotion and protection of human rights claimed in its national report to be made in the implementation of international human rights obligations, there are still, from civil society lens, plethora of issues and gaps in the implementation of Nigeria’s international human rights obligations.

This article reviews secondary data on Nigeria’s Fourth Republic and finds that successive administrations in the Republic have not fared better in safeguarding human rights than the military regimes that ruled the country in the pre-1999 period. It ascribes the reason for the human rights situation in the country to the autocratic nature of democracy in the Republic. It further locates autocracy in the Republic to flaws in the 1999 Constitution, flawed electoral processes, and elitism. The article recommends constitutional amendment and strict adherence to the principle of the rule of law to promote human rights in the Republic.

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 chose certain rights to protect under chapter IV and termed them as Fundamental Rights. These rights protected not only by the Constitution, but also by the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right. Whenever there are breaches of these fundamental rights, the law provides a procedure for their enforcement, which is the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009. The basic objective of the 2009 Rules is to facilitate enforcement procedure by removing some of the impediments in 1979 rule. Unfortunately, it is clear that the procedure for enforcement of Fundamental Rights is still bedeviled by delay. Many applications alleging serious human rights violations are routinely struck out or dismissed. However, the pertinent question is: to what extent are the human rights provision in these legal instruments realized or enforced as it relates to the women folk? It is worthy of note that there are equally other important impediments in the realization of the objective of Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009, such as the distinction between main claim and ancillary claim in the Nigerian fundamental rights, because litigants are cautious of whether or not their will succeed because of this distinction. This research examines Women and Human Rights in Nigeria. This research made an in depth analysis of the rules and considered to what extent it achieved its objective in order to enhance a robust human right regime as it relates to the women folk. To achieve a close -to- accurate" if not accurate result, the research embarked on a field work. To this end, empirical method of research is used. This research found out that the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009, though has brought tremendous changes in the field of human rights protection (e.g the abolishment of locus standi and leave, is still faced with some major setback like the issue of principal and ancillary claim in the enforcement of fundamental rights and the jurisdiction of the National Industrial Court which is not clear in the rule. The work recommend that Courts should do away with the dichotomy between principal and ancillary and the definition of courts in the Rule should include the National Industrial Court.

Much as internal security is paramount to a volatile nation-state such as Nigeria, so is respect for human rights which are rights human beings have by virtue of their being human, especially the right to life, dignity of human person, personal liberty, fair hearing, as well as freedom of speech, consciousness and religion. This study, thus, argued that internal security and respect for the rule of law in its entire ramification should run pari passu in order to maintain a stable society irrespective of the circumstances the country finds itself. It is on this premise the study examined the need for highly placed government officials to respect the rule of law. The study, essentially, argued that the law enforcement agencies and the armed forces that are empowered by the law of the land to maintain law and order as well as enforce the laws of the state and fight insurgency and other forms of anti-vices orchestrated by terrorist groups and other criminal elements, are the ones responsible for violations of the laws of the state. To achieve the objectives of this study, historical design which is qualitative and explorative in nature was adopted to examine the variables of internal security and the implications for respect and sustenance of rule of law and human rights which include respect of the rights of the individual citizens by the police and the military while carrying out their constitutional responsibilities to the state. This means that data for the study were collected from secondary source via textbooks, reports from dailies and periodicals, official documents, journal publication and internet materials. The study made some useful recommendations which among others include: the need for the government to always provoke the section of the Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure Rule 2008 for the enforcement of rights under the Constitution of the federal republic; there is the need for government to restructure and reorient officers of the law to change their perceptions of asserting excessive power over the citizens; there is also the need to promote harmonious police-public or community relations, and increase public trust and confidence towards the police in particular.

Since 2018, Ethiopia is the leading country, with more than two million numbers of internally displaced peoples (IDP) from different parts of the country. Public demonstrations began around 2016 in Oromia and Amhara regional states are continued which pave the way for ethnic clashes and atrocities, and this worsen the situation of human rights in the country. It is difficult to get information about the situation of human rights in Ethiopia. The incumbent government threatened local civil societies and denied access to information for international human right organizations. The objective of this paper is to assess the challenges and opportunities of the Ethiopian Human Right Commission in its role of promoting and protection of human rights. To do so, data was mainly collected from secondary sources, like books, articles, reports, newspapers and research outputs. Qualitative data analysis, document analysis and interpretation were employed. The findings show that the Commission is marred by political influences, less accessibility, limited awareness of people towards human rights, poor culture of respect for human rights, lack of democratic tradition and good governance, weak institutions like the media and the tighten rule governs civil societies, are among the major hurdles limiting the effectiveness of the Commission. Ethiopia’s member of different conventions for human rights like, CCPR, ICESCR, ICERD, CEDAW, CRC and the establishment of the local civil society (EHRCO), though not free from impairments from the ruling party, can be mentioned as some prospects if they are used for better outcomes. Keywords: Human Rights, Promotion, Protection, Challenges, HRCE DOI: 10.7176/DCS/10-6-05 Publication date: June 30 th 2020