RE-EXAMINING THE CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES IN ADDRESSING ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONS IN NIGERIA WITH LESSONS FROM OTHER JURISDICTIONS

Abstract

Over the years, the African continent has tended to face dangerous and life-threatening environmental degradation affecting the entire biodiversity. Courts have the capacity to play an important role in responding to this degradation. This capacity has, however, been hindered specifically in Nigeria by Section 6(6)(c) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), which renders socio-economic rights non-justiciable and enforceable, which include right to a clean, safe, and healthy environment. Adopting a doctrinal research methodology, the paper therefore attempts to examine the extent of environmental degradation in Nigeria, using the Niger-Delta Region as a case study. The central question to be considered in this paper is: To what extent have the judicial powers of the courts engaged in adjudicating on matters relating to socio-economic rights, environmental rights inclusive, and how the same could be addressed through environmental constitutionalism? The paper asserts that in Nigeria, the rights to life and the dignity of the human person include the right to a clean, poison-free, pollution-free, and healthy environment. The paper advocates for a constitution-based approach to environmental degradation in Nigeria with a view to promoting environmental constitutionalism. The paper recommends that the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) be amended further to recognize the justiciability of the right to a clean, poison-free, pollution-free, pollution free and healthy environment in Nigeria.