In his presentation to kick off the first of the two technical sessions slated during the SPIDEL Town Hall meeting, the renowned human rights lawyer, Femi Falana SAN, took the assembled audience through the travails of those, like himself, who try to litigate the rights of the people under Chapter Two.
NEWSWIRE Law & Events Magazine correspondent at the Marriott Hotel venue of the event reports that Falana spoke with characteristic passion about an area of the law (and in particular, a constitutional provision) which has over the years been observed more in the breach, no thanks to the non-justiciability of these provisions in the country’s foremost legal document.
Asserting that there can be no talk of a person’s right to life without ensuring that they also have the means of life, nor can there be be talk of political rights without economic rights, Falana went on to list six key areas through which the provisions of this very critical section of the 1999 Constitution could be litigated (and guaranteed). According to him, they include:
- Sending petitions to the National Human Rights Commission wherever and whenever infractions occur;
- Applying the African Union Charter on Human and People’s Rights (to which Nigeria is a signatory) to domestic violations;
- Having recourse to the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) Court, to which Nigeria is also a signatory, to get court orders aimed at securing the rights enshrined in Cap. 2 of the said Constitution.
- Sending petitions to the African Commission and its relevant committee of law, justice and human rights in Banjul, the Gambian capital. and
- Applying all International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions, using the instrumental city of the National Industrial Court (NIC).
While acknowledging that victory at these courts and external bodies might, in the end, be more psychological than substantive, Falana said they, nevertheless, represent the building-blocks of an edifice of accountability on the part of government. He also called on the judiciary to adopt a more ‘activist’ mode in its judgments and pronouncements in the quest to secure the social and economic rights of the Nigerian people.
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