HUMAN RIGHTS JURISPRUDENCE IN NIGERIA: REFLECTING ON ITS NATURALIST ROOTS
Abstract
The subject of human rights constitutes one of the most popular discourses in our world today. It is a pervasive feature of modern constitutional and socio-political reality. The huge global interest on human rights issues has rendered and constituted the theory and praxis thereof into almost a form of ‘religion in today’s world.’ The human rights jurisprudence especially of the post-Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 makes an inroad into Nigerian constitutions since independence. Like the 1963 and 1979 Constitutions, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) made provisions for human rights. This paper examines the claim that ‘natural law’ doctrine appears to be one plausible rational foundation and explanation for fundamental human rights well suited to Nigerian indigenous conceptions of man in society. The study investigates naturalism as a dependable anchor for the ‘peace, order, good government and welfare of all’ persons in Nigeria. It studies how naturalism forms the root and congenial explanation and basis of the fundamental and guaranteed rights entrenched in the Nigerian Constitution and other immediate associated laws.
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