ANALYSIS OF THE LEGAL AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES
4.5 CHAPTER CONCLUSION
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Government of Nigeria approved a population policy named “National Policy on Population for Sustainable Development”. This is designed to improve the lives and standard of living of Nigerians, by achieving the following targets:
1. A national population growth rate of not more than 2% by 2015.
2. Check population growth by means of voluntary fertility regulation methods and the availability of modern contraceptives.
3. Reduce infant and maternal mortality rates.
These targets did not fully incorporate the provisions of the Cairo Conference of 1994.204
In addition to the above policies, Nigeria has adopted other policies relating to the protection of the reproductive health rights of women. These include the revised National Policy on HIV/AIDS adopted on 10 June 2003; the Maternal and Child Health Policy, 1994; the National Gender Policy, 2007; and the National Policy on the Elimination of FGM, 1998 and 2002. All these policies were adopted by the Federal Government of Nigeria to ensure that women enjoy their reproductive health rights.
However, given the country‟s tripartite legal system and the nature of these rights – these policies had to be implemented by all three tiers of government. Consequently, there are geographical disparities in the implementation of these policies, as states or local governments that are not well disposed to such policies may not implement them. While recognising that it is the duty of the state to direct its policies towards these issues, the Constitution does not make provision for the enforcement of policies that seek to further the social order envisaged by the Constitution. In a bid to protect these rights, two or three policies may be directed towards the same issue: hence there is a proliferation of policies in Nigeria.
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protect the reproductive health rights of women. Women‟s rights have been subjugated by these cultural practices. This is the legacy of patriarchy which is evident in the way the society views women. Whether married or not, women are precluded from participating in decision-making processes. Since their levels of representation are very low, issues that relate to women are not taken seriously in the legislative process. This has affected the domestication of various treaties that prohibit cultural practices that impede the reproductive health rights of women in Nigeria.
Furthermore, the country‟s pluralist legal system has affected the realisation of the reproductive health rights of women. The system creates geographical disparities in the enjoyment of these rights. Women in states that have domesticated a law enacted by the National Assembly at the federal level, will enjoy such rights – whereas women in a neighboring state might not do so.
Furthermore, most of the international treaties pertaining to women‟s reproductive health rights that Nigeria has signed are not applicable, as they have yet to be domesticated as required by the Constitution.
The Nigerian Constitution does not explicitly recognise the reproductive health rights of women because most of the rights that are closely connected with such rights were categorised under non-justiciable rights in chapter two of the Constitution. This is coupled with the fact that the Constitution is not gender sensitive as it did not consider the physiological differences between men and women. However, there are various legal frameworks for the protection of the reproductive health rights of women which have been discussed in this chapter. Women do not enjoy the same rights as men – due to the negative impact of various cultural practices. It is not an easy task to prevail on people to change their culture, which, for them, is a way of life.205 As noted earlier, when Nigeria adopted her legal system through the introduction of English law, native laws and customs were not abolished – on condition that such laws should not be repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience. It follows that in as much as the Nigerian Constitution recognises various cultural practices, such practices must not infringe individuals‟ fundamental human rights. In considering the constitutionality of customs that discriminate against women in Alajemba Uke & anor v Albertiro206 the Court of Appeal ruled that “Any laws or customs that seek to relegate women to the status of a second-class citizen
205 Adefi, note 56 (above).
206 (2001) 17 WRN 172.
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thus depriving them of their invaluable and constitutionally guaranteed rights are laws and customs fit for the garbage and consigned to history (sic)”. Thus, while some cultural practices might not have been officially abolished by the Nigerian government, the court recognised that most of these practices impede women‟s rights.
If women are to fully realise their reproductive health rights in Nigeria, they must be allowed to participate in decision-making processes; the practice of women being seen and not heard must be eradicated. Furthermore, socio-economic rights should be made justiciable in Nigeria. Finally, the various cultural practices that impede the reproductive health rights of women should be abolished or modified – as with payment of bride price which has been modified in some parts of the south west (among the Yoruba), such that it does not impede the reproductive health rights of women. The next chapter will analyse the position of South Africa as this will assist in establishing the necessary variables required for the subsequent processes of comparison.
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