Promoting Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Critical Step to Achieving Human Security in Nigeria

Abstract

Achieving human security which is about providing guarantee of freedom from want and freedom from fear remains the most compelling issue in Nigeria today. In spite of the country‟s enormous human and natural endowments, majority of her populace continue to be threatened by extreme poverty, HIV/AIDS epidemic, mass unemployment, increasing crime rate and sectarian violence. Addressing Nigeria human security challenge has been basically hampered, amongst other factors, by poor governance and corruption. Though Nigeria has been a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights since 1986, she is yet to adopt justiciable constitutional guarantee for the promotion of economic, social and cultural rights. In the absence of justiciable constitutional guarantee, the realization of economic, social and cultural rights will continuously be stymied by assertions that such rights are non-obligatory development aspirations, therefore government are under no obligation to guarantee their fulfillment. Given the socio-economic context of security crisis in Nigeria, the problem of human insecurity cannot be approached from a tokenistic imprecise development goal strategy. What is required is the enforcement of socio-economic rights carved on the canvass of Nigeria‟ constitutional text as well as on short and long term budgetary plans and programs. This research, therefore, seeks to reopen a frontal debate for the justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights in the Nigerian Constitution. It proposes that fulfilling economic, social and cultural rights is fundamental to the achievement of human security in Nigeria.