Prominent human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has urged the Nigerian federal government to move beyond treating socio-economic rights as mere aspirations and instead make them legally enforceable protections. He emphasized this as a vital step toward addressing the deep-rooted insecurity afflicting the country.
Falana delivered these remarks during the 2025 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association held in Enugu, stressing that lasting peace and national security cannot be achieved in a society where hunger, poverty, unemployment, disease, illiteracy, and housing deficits persist unaddressed.
He highlighted the constitutional gap whereby civil and political rights are justiciable, but socio-economic rights such as food, healthcare, education, and housing are relegated to non-justiciable directives. This creates inequality as only the well-off can fully enjoy freedoms, while the poor remain marginalized, which Falana identified as a significant security risk.
Falana called on Nigeria’s judiciary, legal practitioners, and civil society to champion creative interpretations linking socio-economic guarantees with enforceable rights. He also proposed that the Nigerian Bar Association lead nationwide advocacy campaigns and strategic litigation to hold the government accountable for upholding socio-economic rights.
According to Falana, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, ECOWAS Court rulings, and domestic laws like the Child Rights and Education Acts already provide pathways to enforce these rights if properly utilized.
He warned that without addressing socio-economic injustices, insecurity in Nigeria will remain fragile and unresolvable. Falana’s appeal highlights the critical link between human rights protection and national security.