By Okoro Chibuike

After several months in which speculations, conjectures, opinions, debates, uncertainty and ideas swamped public space on how the last EndSars protest would have been avoided. There’s no gainsaying that Nigeria human right regime on paper is one of the best in the world, I.e we have an acceptable human right laws that can be compared to some civilized nations unfortunately implementation of these laws remains one of the greatest challenges every government faces. Currently the rate of human rights violation in the country calls for sober reflection on the part of government, NGOs, community planners, academia, social workers and indeed the general public.

Challenges/ Problems

Despite repeated government pledges to address the problems in the Nigerian criminal justice system, little progress has been made. Among the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) there is flagrant and widespread disregard for human rights and due process. People are subjected to enforced disappearances and unlawfully killed by the police before or during arrest in the street or at roadblocks, or subsequently in police detention. Many unlawful killings appear to be extrajudicial executions, and the perpetrators usually go unpunished.

Crimes committed by the police forces in Nigeria are not random. In a country where bribes guarantee safety, those who cannot afford to pay are at risk of being shot or tortured to death by the police. The families of the victims often cannot afford to seek justice or redress, because they cannot pay for a lawyer or the court fees.

Detainees are regularly held by the police for longer than the constitutionally guaranteed 48 hours before being brought before a judge, often waiting weeks and even months. Seventy per cent of Nigeria’s nearly 48,000 prison inmates are pre-trial detainees. Prisoners are often detained in appalling conditions, waiting long periods for trial as the justice system is riddled with delays. Detainees are often denied their legal right to see a lawyer. Many have to pay for food or medical care, or to avoid being tortured or otherwise ill-treated. Police routinely torture suspects, including children. the EndSars phenomenon crystallized the failure of the government in protecting the life of its citizens as contemplated in _section 14_ of the constitution. the government failed in acknowledging that Nigerians have a right to protest and not only are they entitled to register their displeasure in form of protest they are equally entitled to protection during protest by the police as settled in the case of ANPP V IGP (2007) JELR 33842 (CA)

Human Right Laws

The Constitution which in the Words of the Renowned legal jurist, _Nikki Tobi, JSC_ in Attorney-General, Abia State v. Attorney-General, Federation (2006) 16 NWLR (Pt. 1005) 265 at 381 paragraphs E, while commenting on the supremacy of the constitution comes in handy. The Legal Sage magisterially declared thus; “The Constitution of a nation is the fons et origo, not only of the jurisprudence but also of the legal system of the nation. It is the beginning and the end of the legal system. In Greek language, it is the alpha and the omega. It is the barometer with which all statues are measured. In line with this kingly position of the Constitution, all the three arms of Government are slaves of the Constitution, not in the sense of undergoing servitude or bondage, but in the sense of total obeisance and loyalty to it.” ALSO SEE Section 1(1) and (3) of the Constitution. The constitution aptly enshrined significant portion of human rights thus the justiciability of the rights covered by the constitution is never in question ( Chapter 4). The civil-politcal rights as contained in chapter 4 by virtue of _section 46_ gives every individual who feels that his/her rights is being violated to approach the courts. The socio-economic rights as contained in _Chapter 2_ albeit non-justiceable is part of the obligations the state owe to its citizens. In line with _section 4_ of the Constitution The National Assembly have taken drastic steps to develop the human right jurisprudence by enacting very commendable laws. Beyond the human rights provisions in the Constitution, Nigeria has enacted some human rights laws such as: Child Rights Act, Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, Anti-Torture Act, Universal Basic Education Act The entire provisions of the aforementioned statutes and so many others contain an acceptable level of respect and recognition of human rights.

Implementation/ Reality

The last EndSars protest showed clearly how poorly we are doing with respect to human right, Government Agencies such as the Armed forces, the police, custom authorities, members of the civil defence etc are at the forefront of this unfortunate reality, the level of police brutality in the country is not just heart breaking but equally soul shrinking. Many police officers despites the provisions of _section 35_ of the constitution still illegally detain citizens indefinitely without court orders, despites the provisions of the anti-torture act that have clearly and purely criminalize torture they still inflict all manner of physical and emotional harm on citizens. Furthermore, Police centres have started performing or rather trying to usurp the functions of the Judiciary as clearly stipulated in *section 6* by conducting Mock interviews as against criminal trails by our courts , now all manner of cases are settled at the police stations including murder, rape,stealing etc which on it own constitutes gross illegality. Despites the Provisions of the _Administration of criminal justice Act of 2015_ and the _Anti-torture act of 2017_ that clearly frowns against the parading of criminal suspect, members of the security agencies parade suspects which is against their presumption of innocence as contemplated by _section 36_ of the constitution which upholds the accusatorial nature of our criminal jurisprudence.

The Need to Teach Human right courses

As earlier stated Nigeria has one of the most comprehensive human right laws, illiteracy and ignorance are some of the significant factors bedeviling the actualization and implementation of these laws. unknown to many Nigerians, No Nigerian shall be arrested in lieu of a criminal suspect, such barbaric practice belong to the past. secondly, No Nigeria shall be arrested for a civil wrong , your Land lord can not arrest you as a tenant because that is is a civil wrong, If you are arrested by the police you must be informed of your rights and the police is bound to contact your next of kin and you are not obliged to make a statement without having a lawyer, If you are arrested for a criminal offence and you can not afford a lawyer and it is clear that you are an indigent citizen the police shall inform the Legal aid department or any NGO to provide you with one.

Human right courses should be taught at all levels especially at the police colleges because many police men are oblivious of the provisions of the law on human rights thus grossly abusing and even engaging in extra judicial killing of suspects. if the citizens are properly educated and informed of their plethora of rights they will defend it at all time, fortunately for the government people don’t know their rights under the law because if they do know their rights the state will be declared bankrupt because of awards of damages that government agencies will pay as compensation to victims of human right abuse

It is imperative for Nigerians to know that anyone who feels offended or aggrieved when another person’s right has been infringed can go to court on behalf of the person, the issue of Locus Standi in respect to this matter have been abolished under the Fundamental rights enforcement procedure rules, in the case of Udo v. Robson & Ors (2018) LPELR-45183 (CA)

In an application for the enforcement of fundamental rights, the applicant may include the following

Anyone acting in his own interest;

Anyone acting on behalf of another person;

Anyone acting as a member of, or in the interest of a group or class of persons;

Anyone acting in the public interest; and

Association acting in the interest of his members or other individuals or groups.

FREP rule is landmark and magnificent because it provides human rights victims especially those whose right to life have been infringed to get justice, the age long time of locus standi and jurisdiction have been abolished completely thus human right motions can be initiated at any high court in the country , see the celebrated case of DILLY v. I.G.P & ORS(2016)LPELR-41452(CA).

Panacea/ Prospects

Certain conventional practices at the police colleges should be abolished such as restraining a young recruited female from getting married until she must have stayed three years, such as shaving the males hair to the skull because these practices have psychological impact on them thus when they leave the college they see the society differently, from a less humane approach owing to the barbaric practice that have been indoctrinated in them, security officials who aid, abet, initiate or execute any act in contravention of the extant laws on human right should have the payment of the award of damages be deducted from his/her salary until the full money is completely paid by this approach others will be restrained and afraid to abuse citizens and the state will not bear the burden alone, furthermore, proper education should be regularly conducted by the police authorities regularly, security officials should received their salaries and other emoluments as at when due to avoid engaging in corrupt practices. Second ply, And this is where I call on judges and lawyers to act. _Section 34_ of the Administration of criminal justice act provides that every police station in Nigeria shall be visited by a chief magistrate designated by the Chief judge, Every detention facility of the EFCC,ICPC,Armed forces etc shall equally be inspected once a month. If these detention centres are visited then there will be no room for reckless and illegal detention of individuals for more than a month. Thousands of Nigerians are languishing in custody for months and years without trails because the provision of the act is not effected accordingly, once the magistrate visits he/she is empowered by law to grant bail instantly or order that the person should be arraigned in court or release the person unconditionally. the Human right session of The Nigeria Bar Association should equally take a step by appointing lawyers occasionally to accompany the designated magistrates

NGOs should engage in media enlightenment by printing human right provisions in pamphlets and leaflets in local languages for the rural settlers.

finally, individuals whose fundamental right is being, has been or likely to be violated section 46(3) of the constitution should approach the court because technicalities in our legal system pertaining application for enforcement of fundamental rights have been reduced substantially, it is structured in a way and manner to enhance Justice in its purest form.

Conclusively, it is the submission of this paper that Fundamental rights properly so called in the constitution must at all time be upheld and Nigeria is doing poorly and the recommendations of the paper should be adopted to enhance a better human right regime that doesn’t only exist on paper but in practical reality until these are complied with, will can not come out from this self inflicted embarrassment and unfathomable disgrace and its shameful to be constantly rank by reputable international human rights organizations as leading in human rights infractions. Government should take a drastic step to overhaul the entire security architecture starting from the manner of recruitment, the organization and the funding of all members of the Armed forces and other security agencies.

OKORO FRANKLIN CHIBUIKE

FACULTY OF LAW, IMO STATE UNIVERSITY