As regards the first defect, it is important to point out that the world has moved very far away from the era when it was believed that the only rights which a constitution is called upon to entrench and guarantee are the so-called natural rights of man. In many civilized countries, the citizen’s rights to various social amenities are now regarded as fundamental and inalienable as those rights with which nature endows him at birth. The right to education and the right to work are among such rights. Apart from this empirical development, we have, we believe convincingly, established, in Chapter 5, the reasons for man’s indefeasible entitlement to both natural and social rights. Furthermore, the United Nations Organisation has accorded authoritative recognition to all these rights, in that they are included in its Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was made in 1948, and has been persistently propagated and upheld by it ever since.
With regard to the second defect, four types of limitation are noticeable. The first type relates to item 2. The Constitution permits the subjection of a man to torture, inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment in Northern Nigeria, where such forms of punishment or treatment were regarded as lawful and customary on’ November 1959! It will be agreed by all right-thinking persons that such a custom as this is repugnant to human decency and good conscience, and should be abolished. The second type relates to items 5 to 10. The limitation in each case is preceded by the following expression – ‘Nothing in this section shall invalidate any law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society …. ‘
Then the limitation follows.
It follows that if a law is, or is about to be, enacted which detracts from any of the rights provided in the constitution, a citizen can only successfully resist such diminution or threatened diminution of his right in a court of law if he is able to establish to the satisfaction of the presiding judge or judges that the enactment or proposed legislation cannot be reasonably justifiable in a democratic society. In other words, he will have to establish, by evidence or the citation of legal authorities, the indisputable characteristic features of a democratic society, as well as what is and what is not reasonably justifiable in such a society. He is not likely to succeed in discharging this formidable onus unless the presiding judge or judges are prepared to apply without undue qualification (which is doubted) foreign standards and precedents in similar or analogous cases.
The third type of limitation concerns items 9 and 10 where the constitution discriminates respectively against a person who is or was a chief, and against the female sex.
The fourth type also concerns item 10. Here the old Constitution makes it lawful for discriminatory restrictions to be imposed with respect to the acquisition or use of land or other property.
In order to remove the aforementioned defects, the new Constitution should contain the following provisions:
(1) Freedom from intentional deprivation oflife, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty.
(ii) Freedom from torture, inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment.
Freedom from slavery, servitude, or forced labour save
(a) in consequence of the sentence or order of a court; or
(b) in the event of any emergency or calamity threatening the life or well-being of the community.
(iii)Freedom from deprivation of personal liberty, save in the circumstances set out in Section 21 of the Republican Constitution.
(iv) Freedom from interference with privacy, family life, home, and correspondence.
(v) Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.
(vi) Freedom of expression, to hold opinions, and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference, including freedom of the Press, save that restrictions may be imposed upon persons holding office under the State, members of the armed forces or of the police force.
(vii) Freedom of assembly and association, and in particular to form or belong to trade unions and other associations for the protection of personal or corporate interests.
(viii) Freedom of movement throughout Nigeria, and of residence in any part thereof.
(ix) Freedom from discrimination on the grounds of sex, place of origin or religion, of holding a political opinion, or of belonging to a particular community or a national group indigenous to Nigeria.
(x) Right to education.
(xi) Right to health.
(xii) Right to just and favourable conditions of work.
(xiii) Right to work and to just remuneration.
(xiv) Right to protection against unemployment for people able and willing to work.
(xv) Right to social security, especially in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, or old age.
(xvi) Right to property, and to protection of property against confiscation or acquisition without compensation.
(xvii) Right of every child, whether born in or out of wedlock, to equitable treatment and social protection.
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“It is gladdening that only six months after that memorable event, the Minister of Interior is back in Enugu to perform another significant and symbolic ceremony. This time, the Minister accompanied by the Acting Comptroller General of Immigration, is in the Coal City to unveil the enhanced E-Passport and Commission the Passport Production Centre for the South East situated in Enugu within this Complex.”
Speaking also, the Acting Comptroller General enthused that the people of the South East can now rejoice, pointing out that it was not that his Service oblivious of the suffering of the people but that time and resources had not permitted earlier action.
He commended Gov Ugwuanyi for his support and assistance to the State Command that had culminated in the realization of the project.
Responding, Aregbesola showered encomium on Ugwuanyi who he described as his good friend and one who has been of immense assistance to the Immigration Service in Enugu state.
The minister said not only does South East have a passport production centre within reach but also that the people now have access to an array of choices of the enhanced E-Passport that will aid their globe-trotting disposition.