AN APPRAISAL OF THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE EXTRACTION OF NATURAL RESOURCES IN THE NIGER-DELTA REGION OF NIGERIA

Abstract

This article appraised the legal framework on human rights and the extraction of natural resources in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria. It is obvious that man is environmentally embedded hence, our environment defines us and gives us the trajectory of relevance. Development in any form is dependent on the environment and life itself is better expressed in the environment. The challenge is that the exploitation of the resources in the Niger-Delta region is seemingly becoming a curse instead of blessing. This is due mainly because the activities of exploitation in the region have devastated the environment hence, denying the people enjoyment of the environment as a human right. The challenge of environmental protection has received a lot of discourse locally, regionally and internationally. What is seemingly new in context is an approach that deeply connects us innately to the agitation; an approach that really defines Nigerians in general and the Niger Delta in particular in the environment. Environmental issues directly impact on the human rights of the citizens who become refugees because of environmental problems, such as those displaced from their lands by threat of climate change and also by development project that are not sensitive to the needs of the people. This paper recommends inter alia, Environmental right should be recognised as a justiciable human right in Nigeria; and that there should be a value change in development agendas in the Niger-Delta.