REIMAGINING THE RULE OF LAW IN NIGERIA: ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, GENDER EQUALITY, AND DEMOCRATIC RENEWAL

Abstract

Nigeria's democratic experience exposes a profound paradox. Despite a growing body of environmental and gender legislation, the realities of pollution, poverty, and exclusion persist across the country. This paper explores how these contradictions reveal the moral and institutional weakness of the Nigerian state, arguing that extractive dependence, corruption, and patriarchal governance have stripped the rule of law of its ethical substance. Drawing on feminist legal theory, postcolonial critique, and environmental justice scholarship, it advances the idea of a Gendered Environmental Rule of Law as a framework for restoring legality as a force for care and accountability. Using doctrinal and comparative analysis, the paper examines the Climate Change Act 2021, the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, and the National Gender Policy 2021 alongside judicial precedents and the experiences of South Africa and Ghana. These comparative insights illustrate that democratic legitimacy grows stronger where rights are enforceable, participation is genuine, and justice extends to both people and the environment. The findings show that Nigeria's regulatory agencies remain politically constrained and under-resourced, leading to weak enforcement and deepening public distrust in legal institutions. The paper concludes that Nigeria's democracy cannot be renewed through electoral procedures alone; its survival depends on embedding environmental protection and gender equality within the moral foundation of the rule of law and in the lived practices of governance.