OBSTACLES TO HUMAN RIGHTS ENJOYMENT IN NIGERIA- A NEW NORMAL IS POSSIBLE

Abstract

During the period Nigeria was under military rule, it was thought that their undemocratic regime and governance by fiat was responsible for human rights violations and infractions. However, with the return to democratic rule in Nigeria in 1999, the human rights violations situation in Nigeria continues to exacerbate. Following this ugly tide, this paper examined the obstacles that militate against the enjoyment of human rights under the present civilian administration with a view to suggesting ways to curbing them. The paper identified assortment of factors that militate against human rights enjoyment chief of which are poverty, ignorance and illiteracy and a judiciary that is not courageous all which are carry overs from prolonged military rule in Nigeria. To enhance the enjoyment and enforcement of human rights in Nigeria, it was recommended among other things that the constitutional dichotomy between justiciable civil and political rights and non-justiciable economic, social and cultural rights must be abrogated while the judiciary must not be tepid in the discharge of its constitutional duty as the last hope of the common man. Hence, any encroachment on the rights of the individual or any coercive action should be appropriately redressed.