CRITICAL OVERVIEW OF THE NON JUSTICIABILITY OF RIGHT TO HEALTH IN NIGERIA
Abstract
This work examines the concept of the justiciability of right to health in Nigeria, the existing legal and institutional framework on the right to health, the problems of the non-justiciability of the right to health in Nigeria vis-a-vis other jurisdictions. It further deals with the implications of non-justiciability of the right to health and addresses the challenges of non-justiciability of the right to health in Nigeria.
The study adopts the doctrinal approach using primary and secondary sources of law. The primary sources includes but not limited to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), relevant Nigerian legislations, international conventions on the right to health and case laws. The secondary sources include journal articles, textbooks, newspapers, magazines and online materials.
The work finds that the right to health is non-justiciable in Nigeria by virtue of the fact that it is contained under chapter II of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), hence non-justiciable. It further reveals that the Nigerian courts have not been pro-active in giving liberal interpretations to the provisions on the right to health in Nigeria unlike their counterparts in countries like India, Pakistan and South Africa.
The work concludes that there is the need to make the right to health in Nigeria justiciable through the process of amending the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and through the process of judicial activism as obtained in other climes.
Keywords: Health, Health Rights, Justiciability, Non Justiciability, Sustainable Development
Full-Text Access Notice
In accordance with the NERD Policy on promoting peer-reviewed publication, public access to the full text of a project, thesis or dissertation is restricted for three years, allowing the author and supervisors sufficient time to pursue peer-reviewed publication.
During this period, researchers with legitimate academic or research purposes may request authorisation directly from the author to enable NERD to release the indexed full texts of the work using the form below.