The relevance of human rights and human capital investment in the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 3 and 4) in Nigeria

Abstract

A human rights-based approach to development has found recent support from both State and Non-State Actors in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in addressing development challenges in Nigeria and Africa. Since 2015, in Nigeria, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have attempted to create a renewed national conversation about the extent of the country‟s development challenges. These include poor human capital development/investment, infrastructure issues, and the lack of technological innovation, corruption and governance challenges, and the lack of proper government policies on development, which continue to hinder development progress. This thesis set out to define this approach, to examine the extent to which it is relevant, how it is applied, and to evaluate the barriers and challenges to the use of this approach in addressing poor human capital development challenges in Nigeria. This thesis is a library-based enquiry and adopts quantitative, inter-disciplinary, databases, and socio-legal approaches to understanding the context behind the poor human capital development challenges in Nigeria. Through examples this thesis shows how the approach works in practice, it went on to identify and discuss three human rights principles that play key roles to showcase its relevance in the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals SDGs 3 and 4 in Nigeria. This includes (1) participation and inclusion, (ii) non-discrimination and equality, and (iii) accountability. In terms of relevance, this thesis shows that the approach is related to the process of empowerment, and provides an opportunity for the use of legal instruments in defence of the marginalised or vulnerable groups such as women, girls and the Almajiris in the North. This thesis concludes that a human rights-based approach provides new avenues to address the issue of inequality by providing help to the marginalised or vulnerable groups such as women, girls, and the Almajiris in the North thereby ensuring equality between the North and South in terms of development outcomes.