The basics

Before going deep into the law, where we deal with contracts, administrative laws and all that, it is essential that we know our basic rights, where they are contained in the constitution and of course, their exceptions.

I refer to them as basic rights but actually, they are referred to as the Fundamental Human Rights and these are the entitlements we have as a result of us being humans.

So for as long as you’re a living human being, you’re entitled to have these rights. Humans 1- Robots 0

These rights are not privileges at all. No one is doing us a favour by letting us ‘have' these rights, but rather we are entitled to have them, and these rights govern the Nigerian government.

Thus, once you become a citizen of Nigeria, either by birth, naturalization or registration, these rights automatically belong to you just like how your sibling automatically became your sibling and they can only be taken away where the offense for taking them away is stated in the constitution.

• These rights are not given by any public authority, (never has it been, never will it be)
• They cannot be bought (is it possible to buy your phone when it already belongs to you?)
• Neither can they be sold off, but they can be taken away only if it is stated in the constitution.

These rights are contained in Chapter 4 of the1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), which is grundnorm (father) every law in Nigeria.

This week, we’d be looking at our first fundamental right on our long lists of rights, which is the RIGHT TO LIFE.

See you next time!

Original image credit: https://www.fiverr.com/lawyerkrishna/write-case-briefs-law-essays-and-legal-memos

Author: Esther Ude.