The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)-herein after referred to as the Constitution and the International human rights laws have guaranteed some rights for every citizen and every person respectively. Such as: right to life, right to dignity of human person, right to personal liberty, right to fair hearing, right to private and family life, right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, right to freedom of expression and the press, right to peaceful assembly and association, right to freedom of movement, right to freedom from discrimination, right to acquire and own immovable property anywhere in Nigeria, compulsory acquisition of property (i.e. its limits) and the restriction on and derogation from those fundamental rights as well as Special jurisdiction of High Court and legal aid. While those rights are specifically guaranteed under Chapter IV of the Constitution, other international human rights laws have them provided in Articles. For instance, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948.
Furthermore, while I am of the submission with humility, that ‘Fundamental rights’ are guaranteed under the Nigerian Constitution (for instance), ‘human rights’ are guaranteed under the international laws. Nevertheless, both fundamental rights and human rights are enforceable in Nigeria (for instance) using the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules, 2009-herien after referred to as the FREPR. See: the Preamble to the Rules.This paper is of the firm view that the failure to remedy a situation of no timeframe for the FREPR is likely to be a perpetual setback for the enforcement of fundamental rights cases in Nigeria, until same is remedied.
It is however very unfortunate that the FREPR is about twelve years old since it was made by the then Chief Justice of Nigeria His Lordship, Honourable Justice Idris LegboKutigi (as he then was) and has not been reviewed. Also, notwithstanding the provisions of the Preamble 3(g) of the Rules which provides that ‘(g) Human rights suits shall be given priority in deserving cases. Where there is any question as to liberty of the applicant or any person, the case shall be treated as an emergency’. And Order IV Rule 2 of the FREPR which provides thus ‘The hearing of the application may from time to time be adjourned where extremely expedient, depending on the circumstances of each case or upon such terms as the Court may deem fit to make, provided the Court shall always be guided by the urgent nature of applications under these Rules’. However, from my experiences as a legal practitioner and a human rights activist, these provisions have not been complied with by some of our courts. Perhaps inadvertently, no stipulated time has been made for how long fundamental rights should take up till judgment in courts. This omission in my humble view, if allowed to continue would result in a perpetual setback to human rights cases in Nigeria (as has been experienced today) and so must be reviewed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria. Human rights case last for over one year in court including at the appellate courts whereas political cases have time bound. Also, by Order II Rules 6 and 7 of the FREPR, each party to the suit has 5 days each to file either party’s reply. So, it means that a fundamental rights suit can be concluded at the trial court within 30 days maximally. But in any case, it is my humble recommendation that fundamental rights should be concluded within not more than 90 days from filing and hearing and at the appellate court (i.e. Court of Appeal and Supreme Court respectively) within 60 days, if human rights are valued by the Judiciary. 10th day of December each year is a month for International Human Rights Day, so, this issue is very crucial to the celebration of this year’s human rights day. Some applicants of fundamental rights especially where there liberty was affected, have lost opportunity to enforce their rights when they have been illegally arrested or detained by the law enforcement agency of government as a result of their cases not being heard by some of the Nigerian Courts (from my experiences) and the situation depicts the lawyer representing the applicant as ‘incompetent’ whereas, it is the judicial system of the country which does not allow the court to be able to hear the case. The Judiciary is over-laboured and with meager as salary and allowances for over 12 years and no autonomy has been guaranteed to the judiciary by the appropriate government in power. The situation is quite unfortunate!
Furthermore, I humbly recommend that there should be a quarterly monitoring of the implementation of the FREPR by the Chief Justice of Nigeria who has been constitutionally saddled with the protection of the FREPR. The Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, has a monitoring Committee. Why then can the FREPR not have a Monitoring Committee for the effective implementation of the FREPR.
Finally, I hope that the Chief Justice of Nigeria would grant the recommendations made in this paper in the interest of the promotion of human rights and rule of law in Nigeria.
Email: hameed_ajibola@yahoo.com
