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VOL. 5, ISSUE 4 (2023)
Fundamental right to health’: A nascent deconstruction of health right under the Nigerian legal milieu
Authors
Bolanle Oluwakemi Eniola, Dauda Momodu
Abstract
The right to health has always been a myth in
Nigeria despite the effort of the international community in affirming health
as a fundamental human right. Various international treaties on health, a
number of which Nigeria is party to, have made provisions on health as a right,
yet the legal regime has remained largely unchanged in Nigeria owing to which
health has remained only a fundamental objective and directive principle of
state policy with no enforceability by virtue of section 6(6)(c) of the 1999
Constitution (as amended).This work adopted the doctrinal research methodology
in arguing a deconstruction of health right in Nigeria as a fundamental human
right. The work attempts to justify the right to health by broad resort to
various constitutional parameters including the constitutional right to human
dignity, a broad interpretation of right to life, as well as the purport of
Nigeria’s domestication of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. The
aim and objective were to justify health as an enforceable right like other
fundamental human rights. It was found that notwithstanding the normative
position of health right under the Constitution, the constitutional stricture
posed by s. 6(6)(c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) can be judiciously
circumvented and health enjoyed as a fundamental human right. The work, while
calling for constitutional amendment, concluded on the note that health is a natural
corollary to life, and as such right to life cannot be actually enjoyed without
guaranteeing the right to health.
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Pages:13-18
How to cite this article:
Bolanle Oluwakemi Eniola, Dauda Momodu "Fundamental right to health’: A nascent deconstruction of health right under the Nigerian legal milieu". International Journal of Law, Policy and Social Review, Vol 5, Issue 4, 2023, Pages 13-18
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