CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

            Human rights violation in Nigeria and the world has been a major issue for a very long time. Human beings have their fundamental human rights written down in different country’s constitutions of the world. But the various government policies.  Laws and rights of other individuals etc are restricting these rights.

            It is very important that an individual has a sense of belonging and does not feel he/she is being hanged and a country where they popularly believe there interest is being fought for in government tends to flourish better than where they feel neglected and used.

            It is to this end that this research has been carried out by the researchers.

            The principle that all men/women are created equal has become the foundation of all democratic societies. It has been observed that opinions of people based on vices, personnel belief or social standing form the attainment of equal rights to remain a constant struggle. The existence, validity and constant of human right continue to be the subject of debate in politics and philosophy. However, human rights are defined in both domestic and international laws. There is, however a great deal of variance between human rights norms are perceived and defined in both context and how they are upheld in different countries.

            The concept of human rights has been viewed from different political, sociological and philosophical perspectives. According to Forsythe  (2000), human rights refer to the suppose basic right and freedoms to which all humans are entitled. Philosophically as observed by Hill (2006), human rights are based on social contract theories and their conception of natural rights.

            Murray (2006), from anarchy-capitalist orientation explain human rights as a condition on which person’s ownership rights as a condition on which person’s ownership rights to his body and legitimate properly rights are neither invaded nor aggressed against by person, group of persons or government.

            Socio-politically, human rights is a concept which regards human beings as having universal rights, or states, regardless of legal jurisdiction and other localizing factors such as ethnicity and nationality (Wikipedia, 2006).

            In a domestic sense, the concept of human rights refers to safeguards for the individual against arbitrary use of power by the government in relation to the following.

1.      The well being of individuals

2.      The freedom and autonomy of individuals and

3.      The representation of human interest in government.

            In addition, the concept of human rights deals with small subset of values that should be available for implementation by individual, and other individuals, or government. These values are clearly stated in the constitution and are based on the lagal and political traditional of every country including Nigeria.

            According to Wright (2006), these rights include the right to life, the right to an adequate standard of living, freedom of torture and other maltreatment, freedom of religion and of expression, freedom of right to participate cultural and political life, from the various points of view, fundamental human rights can be explained to as basic universal inalienable social should be enjoyed by all human beings regardless of their religion, race, ethnicity, gender, and status. In other words, fundamental human rights are rights that belong to all humans’ beings and citizens of a country.

 1.2              STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

            There are many ways in which the fundamental human rights can be violated; these may range from rights of other individuals, government policies, the police terrorist groups, war and civil unrest etc.

            Individual rights are violated daily in Nigeria by the police, military, and other law and enforcement agents by refusing victims fair trial before sending them to jail, arresting individuals who did not commit crime, beating helpless civilians without consideration. Terrorist groups also indulge in kidnapping and killing innocent civilians. Also many individuals due to ignorance are not aware of the provision of their rights in the constitution. It is on this note that the researchers has decided to carry out this research.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The violation of human rights in Nigeria has become so vampant in recent history. These violations range from Boko Haram, Police, and Military etc. the major objective of the study is to explain print media coverage of human right in Nigeria.

The purpose of this research is to help identify the following:

1.      The fundamental human rights in Nigeria as provided for the 1999 constitution.

2.      How can the Nigeria police and government help the citizen to protect their right and help them reach their goals as free citizens

3.      Why is human rights violation high in Nigeria and a possible suggested solution and its implication on the Nigeria economy.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION

The main purpose of this research is to know

1.      What is the role of the Nigeria government to help checkmate the rapid rise of human rights violation?

2.      Why are the rich in Nigeria not subject to the law as the poor are?

3.      Is the Nigeria police really helping to enforce the law and if so why is there favoritism in enforcing the law?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

            The significance of this study is to create awareness of the benefits of a well implemented fundamental human rights and its implication effort to a health society. This is necessary as many leaders may not be aware or may be ignorant of the important of these rights and it’s overall contribution to the well being of a country.

This work can also serve as reference on the study of human rights violation in Nigeria.

1.6       SCOPE OF THE STUDY

            This research work is limited to the coverage of human rights violation in Nigeria by the military regime a study of Sanni Abacha  from 1993-1999).