Department of Public Law

Permanent URI for this community

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132

Browse

Browsing Department of Public Law by browse.metadata.advisor "Annika, Rudman"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Human Right to Development in Nigeria
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-03) Magashi, Salim Bashir; Annika, Rudman; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Law. Dept. of Public Law
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : Africa is desperately in need of development. Several efforts have been employed to deal with underdevelopment issues with little or no successes. At all levels, efforts are being put in place to deal with poverty, hunger, malnutrition, disease and other issues that are connected to development. The situation is worrying and desperately in need of lasting solutions. It is in this regard that the right to development was conceived. The right to development is a right that seeks to make development a human right for all. It is a right that encompasses all categories of rights whether civil, political, economic, social or cultural. Thus, the right to development seeks to combine human rights and development together so that the individual and indeed all peoples may participate in, contribute to and enjoy development. The right to development is being supported at international and African regional levels. Although the right is enmeshed in ideological skirmishes between the developed countries of the world and developing ones, efforts to make it acceptable are still ongoing. Examples of such efforts include the Sustainable Development Goals, the Millennium Development Goals, and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development amongst others. Therefore, I examine the role of the right to development as a tool for genuine human development in Africa and specifically for Nigeria. I analyse the legal character of the right from an international, regional and domestic legal perspectives. In this dissertation, I argue that the right to development is a human right capable of enforcement in Nigeria. Its enforceability is found within the Nigerian legal system through international and domestic legal arrangements. In addition to international obligations, the constitution, other pieces of domestic legislation as well as the domesticated treaties strengthen the case for the enforceability of the right in Nigeria. Similarly the dissertation notes that aside from justiciability of the right before courts, good governance, legislative and development planning approaches can aid the effective realisation of this right. On the overall, I argue that, the right to development, if effectively implemented, has the potential of dealing with the myriad of development challenges faced in Nigeria and in Africa at large.