RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

The Nigerian Fundamental Rights (Enforcement) Procedure Rules 2009: A fitting response to problems in the enforcement of human rights in Nigeria?

Enyinna Nwauche

Director, Centre for African Legal Studies, Port Harcourt, Nigeria; Associate Professor of Law, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Rivers State, Nigeria

SUMMARY

This article reviews the Nigerian Fundamental Rights (Enforcement) Procedure Rules 2009 to determine whether it is a suitable response to the numerous problems arising in the course of two decades of the enforcement of fundamental human rights in Nigeria. Such problems include the highly technical and formally procedural nature of the Fundamental Human Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 1979; the requirement of standing to sue; and the distinction between principal and accessory claims. Through a review of the procedural changes made by the 2009 Rules and the overriding objectives in the application of the 2009 Rules the article demonstrates that the 2009 Rules may be regarded as a suitable response if the Nigerian judiciary recognises that utmost flexibility must be the fundamental ordering principle of human rights enforcement.

“Full text available only in PDF format”

* LLB, LLM (Obafemi Awolowo), BL (Nigerian Law School); esnwauche@afrilegstudies.com/enyinnanwauche@yahoo.com
1 (1961) 1 All NLR 400.
2 Similar to sec 32 of the 1963 Constitution.
3 (1966) NMLR 215.
4 (1968) NMLR 283.
5 (1977) 5 SC 161.
6 (1982) 3 NCLR 563. The applicant came by way of judicial review.
7 See also Nwigwe v Onaguluchi (1985) 6 NCLR 480.
8 (1984) 5 NCLR 757. See also Adedoyin v Governor of Ondo State (1983) 4 NCLR 786.
9 (1994) 9 NWLR (Pt 366) 1.
10 Ogugu case (n 9 above) 26.
11 (2000) 6 NWLR (Pt 660) 228.
12 (1996) 8 NWLR (Pt 465) 234.
13 (1986) 1 NWLR (Pt 17) 471.
14 Din case (n 13 above) 478.
15 (1997) 3 NWLR (Pt 491) 57.
16 (2006) 7 NWLR (Pt 979) 302.
17 (2006) 5 NWLR (Pt 974) 590.
18 (2001) 9 NWLR (Pt 717) 132.
19 In Onyekwulujue v Benue State Government (2005) 8 NWLR (Pt 928) 614, the Court of Appeal held that the fundamental rights in ch IV of the 1999 Constitution may apply to artificial persons such as companies because companies must act through the instrumentality of human persons.
20 See Order 1 Rule 2(1) of the 1979 Rules.
21 Ugwu case (n 15 above).
22 (2005) 11 NWLR (Pt 937) 499.
23 The Court did not apply its mind to the provisions of sec 35(4) of the 1999 Constitution which set time limits for an arrested person suspected of committing a crime.
24 (1994) 4 NWLR (Pt 336) 75.
25 (1997) 8 NWLR (Pt 518) 635.
26 (2001) 3 NWLR (Pt 710) 512.
27 n 16 above.
28 (2008) 14 NWLR (Pt 1106) 161.
29 (1997) 6 NWLR (Pt 510) 549.
30 (1991) 2 NWLR (Pt 171) 81.
31 (2001) 2 NWLR (Pt 696) 159.
32 (2001) 9 NWLR (Pt 717) 13.
33 (2006) All FWLR (Pt 321) 1191.
34 (2002) FWLR (Pt 99) 1129.
35 See ES Nwauche 'The dubious distinction between principal and accessory claims in Nigerian human rights jurisprudence' (2008) 52 Journal of African Law 66-88.         [ Links ]
36 See West African Examinations Council v Adeyanju (2008) 9 NWLR (Pt 1092) 270; West African Examinations Council v Akinkumi (2008) 9 NWLR (Pt 1091) 151.
37 (1981) 1 All NLR 1.
38 Sec 6(6)b of the 1979 Constitution provides that the judicial powers vested by the Constitution on different courts 'shall extend to all matters between persons, or between government or authority and to any person in Nigeria, and to all actions and proceedings relating thereto, for the determination of any question as to the civil rights and obligations of that person'. An identical provision is also present in the 1999 Constitution.
39 In Fawehinmi v Akilu (1987) 4 NWLR (Pt 67) 797, the Supreme Court recognised the right of all Nigerians to engage in the private prosecution of criminal cases.
40 (2000) 6 SC 60.
41 (1998) 7 NWLR (Pt 559) 598.
42 See T Ogowewo 'Wrecking the law: How article III of the Constitution of the United States led to the discovery of the law of standing to sue in Nigeria' (2000) 26 Brooklyn Journal of International Law 527;         [ Links ] T Ogowewo 'The problem with standing to sue in Nigeria' (1995) 39 Journal of African Law 1.         [ Links ]
43 (2008) 23 WRN 65.
44 Fawehinmi case (n 43 above) 114.
45 Fawehinmi case (n 43 above) 124.
46 (1996) 3 NWLR (Pt 439) 646.
47 See also Zakari v Inspector-General of Police (2000) 8 NWLR (Pt 670) 666. One of the effects of the constitutional nature of the 1979 Rules was tested by the promulgation of the 1999 Constitution which came into effect on 1 October 1999. It was open to interpretation that the 1979 Rules were repealed by the new Constitution. In Ugwumadu v UNN (2001) 3 WRN 181 and Ibrahim v Industrial Training Fund (2001) 10 LHCR 80, it was held that the 1979 Rules are existing law saved by sec 315 of the 1999 Constitution.
48 Order II rule 5.
49 Order IV rule 3.
50 An exchange rate of US to 150 Nigerian Naira is the basis of calculation.
51 See the cases of Okogie v Attorney-General of Lagos State (1981) 2 NCLR 350; Oronto Douglas v Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (1999) 2 NWLR (Pt 591) 466.
52 (2000) 6 NWLR (Pt 660) 228.
53 Ogugu case ( n 9 above).
54 See eg UAC (NIG) Ltd v Global Transport SA (1996) 5 NWLR (Pt 448) 291.
55 ECW/CCJ/APP/08/08 (ruling delivered 27 October 2009).
56 See the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act.
57 Nigeria ratified this Convention in 1991.
58 Nigeria ratified this Convention in 2000.
59 In 2003, the Child Rights Act was promulgated into law.
60 The Child Rights Act has been promulgated into a Child Rights Law in at least 24 of the 36 states of Nigeria: Abia, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Jigawa, Kwara, Kogi, Lagos, Nassarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Oshun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Niger and Taraba states. The reason for this legislative procedure is that 'children' are under the Residual Legislative List of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and therefore within the competence of state governments. Many of the Child Rights Laws are similar or identical to the Child Rights Act.
61 The Court could borrow a leaf from the Ghanaian Supreme Court in New Patriotic Party v Attorney-General (Ciba case) (1996-1997) SCGLR 729, where the Court in a majority judgment held that all persons - natural and artificial - have the standing to seek an enforcement of the Constitution in accordance with art 2(1) of the 1992 Ghana Constitution; the Malawian High Court in PAC v Attorney-General Civil Cause 1861 of 2003 and the Gambian Supreme Court in Jammeh v Attorney-General (1997-2001) GR 839.