MAKING SOCIO-ECONOMIC RIGHTS JUSTICIABLE IN NIGERIA THROUGH PERSONALISING OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Abstract

Enforcement of socio-economic rights in Nigeria through the agency of the courts has been very difficult and rare. This is down to a Constitutional provision that apparently bar Nigerian courts from entertaining matters bothering on this genre of rights. A number of methods have proffered to assist litigants, lawyers and the courts overcome this Constitutional barrier. At least one of the methods has received the endorsement of the Nigerian Supreme Court. However, the rarity at which the courts sanction the enforcement of this genre of right indicates that these methods do not mainly constitute a panacea to the Constitutional barrier. We therefore suggest another method anchored on the personalization of human rights with its core the dignity of the human person as a more effective complement to the existing methods in overcoming this Constitutional barrier.