BENJAMIN CHUKWUKA OBILOR

The Nigerian Constitution under Chapter IV provides for an expansive Catalogue of fundamental rights, yet the realization and enforcement of these rights remain significantly constrained in practice. This thesis critically interrogates the barriers to effective enforcement of fundamental human rights in Nigeria, with a particular focus on the legal framework, judicial attitudes, procedural constraints, and socio-cultural impediments that collectively render rights protection largely aspirational. It evaluates the adequacy of the existing enforcement regime, including the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009, and exposes deep institutional limitations such as overloaded courts, cultural barriers, security sector impunity, and the weak reach of legal aid mechanisms.Drawing on comparative lessons from other common law jurisdictions, especially India, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the work highlights alternative enforcement models that have widened access to justice, embraced public interest litigation, and mainstreamed international human rights norms. The research adopts doctrinal and comparative methodologies and relies on primary legal sources, judicial decisions, and empirical data from official reports to provide a grounded analysis. The study argues that meaningful enforcement of human rights in Nigeria requires an interlocking suite of statutory, procedural, institutional, and cultural reforms. It concludes with robust recommendations for reforming court processes, enhancing judicial activism, strengthening legal aid, and institutionalizing public education to bridge the gap between normative guarantees and lived realities of human rights in Nigeria.