The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has reiterated that Chapter Two of the 1999 Constitution which contains provisions for social and economic rights is justiciable and enforceable.
A lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Dr. Olubunmi Afinowi, argued that what should be done is to use provisions of Chapter Four to uphold provisions of the said Chapter Two.
He spoke at a town hall meeting in Ikeja hosted by SERAP last Thursday.
Its theme was: “Promoting Citizen’s Participation in Governance and Protection of Dissent”.
Participants included artisans, market women, students, and community leaders.
According to her, the Chapter Two of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended), contains provisions that are beneficial to citizens but did not state anybody or agency to be held accountable for violations of the provisions.
She said the way out of the problem of non-accountability in the Constitution was to hold government accountable under international laws and agreements signed by government of Nigeria to uphold the fundamental human rights enshrined in the Constitution.
“Nigeria has signed various international agreements that enforce the provisions of Chapter Two under which we can hold the government accountable.
“Also, Chapter Four of the Cnstitution contains fundamental human rights that nobody can take away from you or me.
“In other words, we can use the provisions of Chapter Four to uphold the provisions of Chapter Two,” she stated.
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The university don urged Nigerians to engage in active and equal participation in governance.
She urged people to ask questions and hold people in power accountable to improve governance.
Afinowi said local governance gave room for people at the grassroots to participate and the Constitution, regardless of its flaws, served as an important tool in the hands of citizens.
She said, according to the global governance index, Nigeria scored less than 20 out of 100 in the global good governance while it scored 150 out of 180 in the 2021 corruption index.
“These are enough reasons for citizens to properly participate in improving the indices of governance in Nigeria,” Afinowi said.
She argued that challenging government’s actions that were not linked with the rule of law was one of the ways of participation.
“It is essential to hold the government at the grassroots accountable.
“The local level government should give room for market traders, NURTW, landlord association, artisans and the likes to have equal rights in governance.
“The constitution may not be what we want or may not be the best but it is what we have and we have a constitutional guaranteed right to say something about governance and it should not in any way cause violence.
“When you ask questions, they will label you a troublemaker but it is okay because next time when they see you they will not want that trouble,”
Afinowi also admonished Nigerians to embrace a modal system of governance where small groups of people were instrumental to the governance of a society.
She said market associations were a useful small group that could impact governance by paying courtesy visits and registering their existence with the chairpersons of local governments.
Afinowi berated “godfatherism” in Nigerian politics and stressed the need for a community effort in improving governance in Nigeria.