Beyond the statistics of economic growth and GDP, millions of Nigerians live under life threatening conditions that demand urgent improvements in their well-being and living conditions. These people, mostly, as victims of underdevelopment, have a right to development – the right to development according to the Declaration on the Right to Development, is an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, which all human rights, development and fundamental freedoms can be fully realised.
Times are changing and so is the life of law and social dynamics. Whereas in Nigeria, there are still constitutional constraints and political ineptness combining to constitute bottlenecks in legitimizing and institutionalizing the right to development, it is trite that it is only when people have equal access and enforceable right to quality education, good health care, housing and environment, stable power and water supply, job opportunities and functional social security that they can fully, fairly and uncompromisingly participate in building their societies and productively utilize their full potentials.
It is instructive that in India and some African countries, their citizens can now obtain redress from the courts if denied their developmental, human and socio-economic rights in the constitution. Relying on the provisions of the African Charter on Human and People Rights, some African countries like Uganda’s constitution (as amended 2005), and South Africa have expunged the categorization of human rights by making socio-economic rights justiceable.
To achieve the Nigerian dream of diversity in inclusive prosperity, Nigeria as a legally bound signatory party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, must make justiciable all right to development, enforcing socio-economic rights and inclusive social justice. Whoever wins the 2019 presidential election owes Nigerians a duty of the century by transmitting an Executive Bill for an amendment of the provision of Section 6 (6) (c), making the provisions of Chapter II justiciable, and the provisions of Section 308 of the Constitution in removing the Immunity Clause; empowering Nigerians to leverage such public interest laws like Section 53 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and other provisions of the Freedom of Information Act to demand for their right to development.
Nigerians must also begin to lay claim to their right to development and other socio-economic rights through public interest litigation, holding public awareness sessions to enlighten uninformed citizens of their right to development, and by aggressively ensuring that public servants are accountable to the people.
We need to work together to defeat our common enemy which is underdevelopment, clothed in dirty colours of abject poverty, diseases, ignorance, hunger, insecurity and lack of opportunities. We can build a nation with a culture of care for her people and sincerely pursue excellence in the practice of sustainable development, progress and peace.
Ekpa, Stanley Ekpa, Abuja
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