ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION FOR MARGINALISED INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES IN NIGERIA: A CRITIQUE OF DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORKS

Abstract

Environmental justice is concerned with fairness in the distribution of environmental benefits and burdens, and with ensuring that no community bears a disproportionate share of pollution, toxic waste, or other environmental harms. In Nigeria, decades of oil exploration and exploitation in the Niger Delta have made environmental justice a pressing legal and human rights concern, particularly for indigenous and marginalised communities whose lands, waters, and livelihoods bear the brunt of extractive activity. Adopting a doctrinal method of legal research, this article critically appraises the local and international legal frameworks governing environmental justice in Nigeria, with a view to identifying gaps and opportunities for reform. It argues that Nigeria’s environmental laws, though relatively extensive, remain inadequate to address the scale of environmental injustice associated with oil and gas activity, owing to the non-justiciability of constitutional environmental duties, weak institutional capacity, jurisdictional overlap among regulators, and restrictive rules of standing. The article finds that international and regional human rights instruments, particularly Article 24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, supply a valuable interpretive framework that Nigerian courts have used, cautiously, to read environmental protection into enforceable rights to life and dignity. Drawing comparative lessons from South Africa, Kenya, and India, the article recommends a comprehensive review of Nigeria’s environmental laws, the constitutional entrenchment of the right to a healthy environment, the establishment of an independent environmental commission, broadened rules of standing, and deeper international cooperation and technical assistance to support Nigeria’s pursuit of environmental justice and sustainable development.