RECOGNITION AND ENFORCEMENT OF THE RIGHTS OF NIGERIAN WOMEN

Abstract

The Constitution1 provides for the guarantee and enforcement of the fundamental rights of the citizens, which include freedom from discrimination. This position of the law has been a time honoured principle and endorsed by our courts in litany of cases and other foreign jurisdictions. Notwithstanding the college of statutory provisions and judicial precedents, the selective nature of the lynchpin of this work strongly suggests the gross abuse and colossal violation of the rights of Nigerian women. Beyond the suggestion are the daily experiences of the contraventions of the rights of women from their biological habitat through the various stages of their formation and development. While some of the women in their assertive nature have always approached the court for the enforcement of their rights, majority sweep the trending issue under the carpet, either for want of care, ignorance of the law or religious or ethnic colouration. Considering the vitality of awareness emerging among the Nigerian women with respect to their rights, it becomes more apropos and satisfying to unveil again those areas women’s rights have been, is being, or likely to be violated and the legal framework set in motion to address it.