ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS AS MECHANISMS FOR PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICAN SOCIETIES: A NIGERIAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This article examines both regional and domestic legal framework as well as the existence of some critical provisions governing best practices for sustainable development in the sphere of oil industry in Nigeria, particularly in the Niger Delta region. It is sad to note the quantum of pollution of the environment corollary to oil exploitation by multinational co-operations controlling exclusively upstream oil production in most of the African states with particular reference to Nigeria. Having identified the complex nature of interaction between the host communities and the Nigerian state, and strong human rights implications bordering on right to life, privacy, right to healthy environment, and right of self–determination, the authors argue that the impact of pollution on swathes of farmlands, creeks, fish-ponds, communal rivers and other sources of portable water to the host communities-constitutes an infraction of their environmental rights. The need for protection against environmental degradation using both the provisions of international and Nigerian legal framework to demonstrate the existence of such rights, the authors maintain that a delicate balance approach should be adopted in easing the usual tensions and incidental impoverishments associated in the course of oil production by multinational co-operations in the Niger Delta of Nigeria.