The Concept Of Right To Life As Enshrined In Nigerian Constitution
Genre: History
The book begins with an
overview of the 16 chapters. It starts with the first chapter, which deals with
constitutional concepts and focuses on the primary concern of constitutional
law. The second chapter is focused on the legal regime of amalgamation in
Nigeria, which the authors indicate as absent in earlier works. Chapter three
chronicles the journey from Nigeria’s dependence to independence; Chapter Four
looks at constitutional developments in Nigeria from 1900 to 1999 beginning
with the annexation of Lagos in 1861 and carefully reviews all constitutions
from the Clifford Constituion of 1922 to the 1999 Constitution.
Chapter five specifically
addresses the literal and liberal approaches to interpretation of the
constitution. It looks at the canons of interpretation and focuses on the
interpretative jurisdiction of the judiciary on account of Section 6 of the
1999 Constitution. Chapter Six looks at the Fundamental objectives and
directive principles of state policy. Chapter Seven deals with fundamental
rights, here each of the constitutional provisions on Fundamenatl Rights were
clearly set out and discussed with the aid of decided cases. Chapters Eight,
Nine and 10 deal with the Judiciary, Executive and Legislature respectively.
Chapter 11 covers citizenship; Chapter 12 deals exhaustively with the
principles of locus standi. Here the authors contend that the rigid rules
about locus standi have to be relaxed and brings a new dimension, that all tax
paying adults in the local government council area are to be invested with the
rights to call the council to order whether or not their individual interests
are adversely affected.
Chapter 13 examines access
to information as fundamental human right, it juxtaposes the experiences of the
other jurisdictions to bear on the issue. Chapter 14 covers both freedom of
information as well as national security in Nigeria, it touches on Nigerian
secrecy laws, the scope of the Freedom of Information Act and the concept of
national security. Lastly, Chapter 15 and 16 deal with presidential powers and
states of emergency as it has been invoked in the governance of Nigeria. The
chapter reviews the first state of emergency declared in Nigeria in 1962 and
the cascades to the emergency declaration in Plateau and Ekiti States
under President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
In these last two chapters very salient legal and constitutional questions are
raised
