Is The Right To A Clean Environment A Fundamental Human Rights In Nigeria?

Environmental pollution is often described as an environmental problem. But what happens when the pollution becomes so severe that people can no longer safely drink their water, cultivate their land or live without serious threats to their health and dignity? At that point, the question is no longer only about the environment. It becomes a question of fundamental human rights.

This is at the heart of an important and developing area of Nigerian law: the relationship between environmental rights and fundamental human rights.

Nigeria does not currently have a standalone, expressly worded constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment in Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution. Section 20 of the Constitution directs the State to protect and improve the environment, but it is contained in Chapter II, which deals with the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy. By virtue of Section 6(6)(c), the provisions of Chapter II are generally not enforceable in court