Jegede Ademola Oluborode looks at various marginalized groups in relation to human rights in Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION

"Burdened in the midst of hope!"

With the wave of democracy sweeping across Nigeria once again in 1999, and more fundamentally since 2003, efforts have been made towards institutional development aimed at laying political foundation for Nigeria to realize its potentials. Basic freedoms in the form of political and civil rights, whether sincere or otherwise, at least appear to have featured predominantly in these efforts. Little or no attention is however being given to economic, social and cultural rights so well encapsulated in several international and regional instruments to which Nigeria is signatory.

In a regime of neglect to crucial rights, Marginalized Groups, and their category is ever growing, suffer more. This is perhaps because, apart from contending with inattention which appears to be common fate of all, the harms and injuries faced by these groups, due to inadequate legal framework and political leadership commitment to their concerns, are gradually emerging and may dominate human rights discourse in the coming decades. Using the marginalized group as a barometer, attempt is made here to appraise human rights violations in Nigeria and predict its future situation. The Essay concludes on the note that unless there is a renewed commitment to embrace and apply human rights as vehicle of positive change, the future may only be remarkable for intense agitations and bitter protests of the marginalized.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND MARGINALIZED GROUPS IN NIGERIA

The human rights concerns and needs of Nigerians, particularly the Marginalized Groups remain unaddressed. The approach adopted below is to define and describe the human rights situation of the marginalized by variables such as disability, sexual orientation, religion, region and gender.

DISABILITY

Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria guarantees the right to freedom from discrimination in all its forms against any person. The provision may be considered applicable to persons with disabilities. Prior to 1999, the Nigerian with Disability Decree of 1993 made copious provisions for the protection of human rights of persons with disabilities. In its Section 3, provisions were made for their human rights and privileges while Section 14 established a National Commission for Persons with Disability. As beautiful as this piece of legislation is, nothing concrete has however been done to match its provisions with action. To date, the National Commission for persons with Disabilities has not taken off. Contrary to section 9 of the Decree, transport is not free for the disabled, national news and official broadcasts do not provide sign language for interpretation in accordance with section 19, while it has been difficult in the circumstance of our electoral process for the disabled to exercise their rights to vote and be voted for. In spite of the social rights guaranteed under the Act, most disabled live off begging on the city streets.

Two significant Bills for persons with disabilities were introduced at the National Assembly in year 2000 namely; (1) A Bill for an Act to provide Special Facilities for the Use of Handicapped Persons in the Public Buildings and (2) A Bill for an Act to Establish a National Commission for the Handicapped Persons and to vest it with the Responsibility for their Education and Social Development and for the Connected Purposes . Nothing significant came out of these Bills.

Nigeria has signed the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its optional protocols. At a Forum to sign the Convention, the then Minister of External Affairs, Mrs. Joy Ogwu, noted that Nigeria was in the process of signing a Disability Law . Except for the National Disabled Trust Fund (Establishment Bill) presented in 2004 by Senator. Chris Adighije which is still dragging at the National Assembly, no such Law appears to have been passed till date. Section 21(1) of the 1999 Constitution provides that no treaty between the Federation and any other country shall have the force of law except to the extent to which any such treaty has been enacted into law by the National Assembly. Lack of political commitment to appropriate legal framework and implementation of the existing laws underlies the violation of Disability rights in Nigeria.

By 2018, events are more likely to reveal that it requires more than a piece of legislation or endorsements of international conventions to realize the rights of person with disabilities in Nigeria. Appropriate legislations will benefit from Human rights education and advocacy in the coming decades. Human rights activities in this regard will also be complemented if there is an upgrade of legal education to accommodate Disability Rights.

SEXUAL ORIENTATION

Section 214 of the Nigerian Criminal Code penalizes consensual homosexual conduct between adults by fixing 14 years as punishment. Similar position appears to be taken in the Sharia Codes against sodomy . The effect of this framework is that relationship and marriage ceremonies between the people of the same sex are criminal in Nigeria. In a letter routed through the Human Rights Watch by a network of national and international NGO's, the foregoing trend has been criticized as inconsistent with international legal regime which emphasizes that granting lesbians and gays the basic rights of expression and association is a good public health measure capable of boosting government efforts to curtail the spread of HIV/AIDS .

It does appear that the greatest challenge in the struggle for lesbian and gay rights activism in Nigeria presently is the lack of understanding of major policy and law makers about the public health significance of gay and lesbian rights. Predictably, this trend may continue in the coming two decades and may be characterized by a clash of two views; public morality and public health. One can only speculate about the dominant view in the future. One thing is certain though, behavioral and social practices can not be shaped by a piece of legislation without other tools of public health education to complement, more so by pieces of legislation which tend to undermine gay and lesbian rights.

RELIGION

The secular nature of the Nigerian State is well captured in Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution which provides that the Government of the Federation shall not adopt any religion as State Religion. Islamic law has however come into operation in the northern part of the nation such as Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa, Yobe, Bauchi, Borno, Zamfara, and Gombe with extensive jurisdiction covering criminal cases. People have been tried for different manners of offence and received sentences based on the provisions of the Sharia. The Sharia provisions on sentences have been subject of international condemnation lately as amounting to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including death sentences, amputations and floggings. The manner in which Sharia is applied violates women rights to freedom from discrimination, particularly in adultery cases where standards of evidence differ based on the sex of the accused.

Christian groups notably Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has consistently asserted the threat that rapid islamisation of the northern part of the nation portends for the minority Christians. The plank of their position has been that such trend may occasion inter-religious crises and reprisal killings in different parts of the country. Lack of judicial pronouncement and federal position on the issue of the nation’s secularism heighten the anxiety of the minority and discourage them from taking advantage of their right to freedom of religion.

In the coming two decades, controversies, particularly in relation with religion and constitutional provision on secularism of the nation will increase. Agitations for Sharia law will likely continue in the nation with increasing protests by members of other religious groups notably, Christians. Clashes as well as reprisal attacks along religious grounds are not ruled out with the minority suffering the most in the majority’s efforts at domination.

REGION

Underlying the hydra-headed conflict situation in the Niger Delta region (Ondo, Edo, Delta, Imo, Abia, Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross rivers and Akwa Ibom States) is the perceived grave violation of human rights of the communities in the region. The situation has its roots in the discovery of oil in the region by the Royal Dutch Company in the late 1950s and has continued till date. The allegation of the people from the Niger Delta-Region in Nigeria is that attempts by Government to alleviate the regions problems have been insincere.

It has been observed by the Human Rights Watch, and rightly so, that the Federal Government policy towards conflict in the Delta has vacillated between heavy-handed attempts at imposing order and attempts to bring reconciliation . In September 2005 federal authorities arrested Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF) leader Asari on charges of treason. In what seems to be a reconciliatory move, charges against him were later dropped by the new administration of President Musa Yar’adua who had earlier indicated an interest to convey a National Summit to address Niger Delta question. Meanwhile, hostage taking and kidnapping still continue to characterize the conflict face of the Niger Delta region.

Lack of an a-political comprehensive blue print development programme for the region as well as political commitment has over the years accounted for the deep human rights crisis of the Niger Delta region. In the coming decades, issues of self determination, police brutality, illegal occupation and detention will bitterly rage in the Niger- Delta region and may degenerate into humanitarian crises unless political leadership realizes the need for a review of the legal regime of ownership and control of oil resources vested in the Federal Government through legislations such as The Petroleum Act 1969 and Land Use Act to accommodate the concerns of the communities in the areas.

GENDER

The legal framework for the observance of womens rights remains hazy in Nigeria and it is a major bane to the realization of their human rights. The argument in this respect has been whether the Constitution as it is, entails a comprehensive set of provisions on human rights capable of supporting the emerging body of womens rights particularly, reproductive rights embodied in international instruments such as (The Convention of the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) of 1981) to which Nigeria is signatory and the consensus of Conferences such as (International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD),1995) which Nigeria approved.

The provisions on human rights in the 1999 Constitution do not provide for, the rights to health, a standard of living adequate for health and well being and the right to enjoy scientific progress and to consent to experimentation as envisaged in the World Health Organisation Bill on Sexual Rights. Issues such as health, economic and social rights are only accommodated in the Fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy in sections 13 to 24 of the constitution.

The consequence of the foregoing is that whereas the provisions on human rights are actionable in court, the 1999 Nigerian constitution does not make provision for the enforcement of fundamental objectives of the state or for accountability of the same. It merely provides for policies and directives to be made on such matters. In line with these directives, the government has made several policies including the following:
- National health policy (1996)
- National Women Policy (2001)
- National Reproductive Health Policy (2002)
- National HIV/AIDS Policy (2002)

However, these policies are merely directive and neither confers on any individual a right that is actionable nor the duty to hold government accountable for their performance in Nigeria. Equally too, certain rights in the Constitution are abstract and too narrow to avail protection as reproductive rights. These are as follows;

- The right to be free from discrimination: this imposes criteria which is rather onerous to establish.

- The right to dignity of the human person: it apparently does not envisage the broader issues of child labour, female genital mutilation or the concept of ‘marital rape’.

Apart from the foregoing lack of basic legal framework for reproductive rights which calls into question the relevance of government service to women, the representation of women in governance remains a major challenge. Although Obasanjo’s administration appears to have made an appreciable success in this regard, much still remains to be achieved.

In the coming two decades, gender gaps in Nigeria will evolve still in a dynamic version. Foreseeable gender inequities in the future may not necessarily feature between groups but within the same group.

CONCLUSION

In describing the future of Human Rights situation in Nigeria, some hope could be sensed, but the question to anticipate is how political leadership in Nigeria can take advantage of its new breath of democracy in gaining the confidence of its diverse and marginalized citizenry. Using a human rights-based approach in reforming all its vital systems and sectors of government remain the major strategy for positive change. Otherwise, the coming decade may only be remarkable for intense agitations and bitter protests of the marginalized with all its attendant human rights wrongs. This is a great burden which is greatly to be feared!

* Jegede Ademola Oluborode is a legal practitioner and a human rights activist in Nigeria.

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