CONOLIDATING LEGAL EMPOWERMENT FOR ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR LOCAL

PEOPLE IN NIGERIA*
Naphtali Ukamwa
Faculty of Law, University of Lagos.
Email: naphtaliukamwa@gmail.com

Abstract
With only about 36 percent in urban areas, 64 percent of the Nigerian population, majorly women,
lives in rural areas and rural women face various challenges within the Nigerian socio-political
hemisphere. Despite the initiation of numerous domestic initiatives and government interventionist
measures, underrepresentation of women in government, child marriages, female deprivation of
property rights, internal displacement, disinheritance and inequality arising from harmful and
customary practices continue to ravage the Nigerian socio-political ambiance. In another trend,
indigenous people of the Niger Delta region agitate daily for resource control, hence their resort to the
use of vandalism and other forms of violence as an avenue for access to resource control. However,
the majority of these vulnerable groups are not aware of their rights and the procedures to enforce
them using the tool of law.

Key words: poverty, legal empowerment, access to justice, local Nigerians, development solutions

1. Definition of the Problems: Instead of An Introduction

With the evolution of the heinous terrorist group (Boko Haram) i in North-eastern Nigeria, women,
young girls and children have not only been constantly displaced but also sexually abused and
victimized. Boko Haram, since the inception of their attacks, had killed millions of civilians, with
women, young girls and children constituting the largest population of victims and vulnerable groups
against whom these attacks are continually leveled. Evident examples are 2014 abduction of 276
Chibok schoolgirl; Borno Massacre of 121 Christian villagers in 2014; 2015 Baga massacre of an entire
village; the recent February 19, 2018 Dapchi abductions of 110 school girls; among other numerous
attacks. According to the estimate of Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, violence committed by
Boko Haram and military operations against the group have caused internal displacement of 279,000
people, thereby increasing the aggregate amount of IDPs at the close of 2017 to 1,707,000 ii. National
Population Commission also asserted that the number of displaced population in Nigeria increased by
4.5 percent at the end of January 2018. iiiThus, it becomes evident that the poor and vulnerable groups
and individuals, especially in he Northeastern fragility, conflict, and violence (FVC) areas, are women,
young girls and children. This population need more than government condolences and weak state
approachiv to human rights protection; they need legal empowerment for protection of their rights and
to enhance development. The mammoth killing of Nigerians in the Northeast is an outcome of the
Nigerian government not adequately performing its responsibilities of security and protection of life
and property of its citizens. However, majority of these vulnerable groups are not aware of their rights
and the procedures to enforce them.

1
With only about 36 percent in urban areas, 64 percent of the Nigerian population, majorly women, lives
in rural areasv and rural women face various challenges within the Nigerian socio-political hemisphere.
Despite the initiation of numerous domestic initiatives and government interventionist measures, vi
underrepresentation of women in government, child marriages, female deprivation of property rights,
internal displacement, disinheritance and inequality arising from harmful and customary practices
continue to ravage the Nigerian socio-political ambience. vii While the proportion of women in non-
agricultural wage employment stood at 79% since 2005, their percentage in national parliament was
5.8% as against 30% goal.viii Still, the disparity between genders continues to ravage the Nigerian
system.

The pervasiveness of HIV/AIDS is evident in almost every Nigerian locality, growing at a rate of 4.5 to
5.4 per cent since 1996ix. Young persons between the ages of 20 and 24 have higher frequency of
susceptibility rate of 8.1 per cent with severe consequence for national development.

Furthermore, in Nigeria persons with disabilities experience difficulties in the sphere of access to
justice, property, labour and business rights. A Finding by Center for Citizens with Disabilities in
Nigeria arguably claimed that there are about 3.6 million (3 percent of) Nigerians in 2006 living with
one disability or the other, x whereas the World Report on Disabilities estimated the figure to be 25
million Nigerians in 2011. These populations are largely disenfranchised and are not given avenue for
inclusive participation. These persons have resorted to street-begging to make ends meet due to the
unfavourable socio-economic atmospherexi. Persons with disability have continued to remain
vulnerable in Nigeria because they are unaware of their socio-economic rights.

In another trend, indigenous people of the Niger Delta region agitate daily for resource control, hence
their resort to the use of vandalism and other forms of violence as avenue for access to resource
control.xii These groups are driven by the perceived notion of ethnic marginalization, deprivation of
access to justice for environmental pollution, emasculation of their resource-control rights, among
others.xiii Local resources, farmlands, creeks and sources of income for local people of this region are
constantly being polluted by contaminants and industrial effluent emanating mostly from the operations
of multinational corporationsxiv. Also, the attendant outcomes of these environmental menaces have not
only culminated in damage to environmental assets but have degraded human resources. The study
titled “The Effect of Oil Spills on Infant Mortality: Evidence from Nigeria” revealed that the National
Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency chronicled over 6,600 oil spills between 2005 and 2015 and
these oil spills have increased neonatal mortality degree by 38 per cent per 1,000 live births. xv The
crisis in the Niger Delta persists despite government interventions and internal mechanisms such a
NDDC,xvi Amnesty program and COSENDxvii, because these vulnerable individualsxviii basically have
no legal initiative adequate enough to empower them on how they can by themselves access justice
through legal and administrative frameworks. In addition, majority of indigenous people of Niger

2
Delta apart from ignorance of the law are extremely poor and unaware of the requisite legal avenue to
ventilate their ordeals, thereby making access to justice almost absolutely impossible.

The cumulative effects of the foregoing is that approximately 64 to 70 percent of Nigerian population
are living on less than a dollar per day xix in spite of the country’s natural endowment. xx Nigeria
symbolizes a paradoxxxi as it continues to be a poor country with a yearly per capital income of about
$300 lower than the sub-Saharan average of $450xxii and the lethargic growth of its GDP averaging
between 1.5 and 3.5 per cent per annum from 2000 to 2017. xxiii Sub-Saharan Africa has become
identical with penury because of its precarious socio-economic environment, and Nigeria habours the
highest number of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups and persons especially women, young girls
and children in the region.

2. Lilein Project – Locally-Integrated Legal Empowerment Initiatives For Nigeria: The Way
Forward

Thus, I recommend for the World Bank the LILEIN Project – Locally-Integrated Legal
Empowerment Initiatives For Nigeria — integrated legal initiatives that adopt internal solutions to
solve internal problems of disadvantaged and vulnerable individuals and groups. Vulnerable and
disadvantaged groups and individuals in Nigeria can be economically empowered more effectively by
integrating legal initiatives into socio-economic policies. Nigeria needs a paradigm shift in how it
integrates law and development. The LILEIN project will not only concentrate on remedies in cases of
violations, cruelties and harms founded on claims relating to civil and political rights, it will shift
beyond such restricted concentration and integrate economic, social and cultural rights in Chapter two
of the 1999 Constitution (which are largely unenforceable in Nigeria pursuance to section 6(6)(c) of the
1999 Constitution). It should also seek to address structural violence, and existing systemic gender
inequality and discrimination.

The LILEIN Project will specifically strengthen the poor and the disadvantages groups in Nigeria to
use the law and legal institutions to enforce their rights. As an integrated legal initiative, LILIEN
project incorporates numerous legal measures with socio-economic potentials and significance to life
of vulnerable people and disadvantaged groups in Nigeria through concerted efforts administered by
the World Bank, through a bottom-top approach that gives credence to the following main agenda:
 Legal empowerment through private sector partnership such as World Banks collaboration
with Non-Governmental Organisations, Civil Society Organizations, financing project for
legal services through partnership with local banks, media and local agencies and
communities.
 Legal empowerment of the disadvantaged population by strengthening customary courts
(informal justice approach).
 Boosting legal literacy strategies by sponsoring legal empowerment initiatives in the
curriculum of tertiary institutions.

3
  Legal empowerment through the funding of legal training of illiterates and local paralegals to
educate local people on their rights and enforcement procedures.
 Translation of relevant laws into local languages for ease of access for local people.
 Collaboration with local authorities for the establishment of Local Environmental Courts to
aid access to justice for victims of environmental pollution.

The above legal measures are, for the purpose of this proposal, integrated legal initiatives designed to
promote less formal justice systems, processes and institutions that can be used to advance the rights
and well-being of then vulnerable Nigerian population, rather than a focus on a narrowly defined
justice sector. The LILEIN Project is therefore a synergy and partnership between World Bank and
local agencies, making it possible to strengthen local paradigms directly under the quasi-supervision of
the World Bank.

The general goal of World Bank partnership with non-state institutions concretizes its commitment to
pilot the economic empowerment of disadvantaged and vulnerable individuals and groups principally
through legal paradigms infused into sustainable socio-economic. Although the initiation of the MDGs
signifies one of the keys to Nigeria’s escape from these entrapments and constitutes an effort to reduce
poverty and boost prosperity through global partnership for development, xxivnevertheless, the existing
advancement towards the achievement of these goals is nearly at a “snail’s pace.” These legal
initiatives will foster the World Bank’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and promoting
shared prosperity for the poorest 40 percent in developing countries (specifically in Nigeria).

These integrated legal initiatives in local areas differ from traditional approach in at least four ways: (1)
Paralegals (and lawyers where necessary) partner with the poor to give them legal aids instead of
directing them as clients in dire needs for their expertise. It enhances total participation of victims and
NGOs in the formulation, execution, supervision and evaluation of legal empowerment and reparation
schemes. (2) The disadvantaged undertakes responsibility in setting priorities, instead of government
officials prescribing the agenda. These initiatives empower the vulnerable population to use law, legal
services and related development measures to promote the capacity to control their lives. (3) These
legal initiatives provide avenues for tackling the poor’s pressing needs.
(4) Tackling these priorities regularly entails non-judicial strategies that surpass limited conceptions of
legal systems, justice sectors, and institution. In other words, these integrated legal initiatives presents a
viable alternative, more equalized approach of economically empowering these groups and individuals.
(5) It enhances the use of law as part of integrated strategies that include other development activities.

The LILIEN Project transforms the socio economic needs of poor and disadvantage into legal reality.
Over the course of time development interventionism has focused on “top-down approach” which
extremely fosters excessive concentration on state intervention. As notably applied by multilateral
development banks such the World Bank this “top-down,” state-centered method focuses on
restructuring law and government bodies, predominantly judiciaries to mitigate poverty. However, due

4
to the large structure of the Nigerian society government interventions as well as World Bank financial
interventions which focused on poverty alleviation through state institutions have generated little or no
substantial impact in Nigeria due to corruption, which manifests in embezzlement of public funds. The
difficulties with this model are not limited to economic and political goals, they generate challenge of
unproven impact and inadequate responsiveness to the legal needs of the vulnerable and disadvantaged
groups and individuals.

The LILEIN project will constitute legal initiatives that anchor on community-driven and rights-based
development by proposing tangible mechanisms, including but not restricted to legal services, that
lessen poverty, advance the rights of the vulnerable and disadvantaged, and ensure the realization of the
rule of lawxxv. Although it is conceded that globally severe poverty has declined appreciably still, with
the effective engagement of these initiatives the World Bank Group’s interim goals of diminishing
poverty to single digits by 2020 and 3 percent by 2030 are attainable.

Nigeria is not different from lots of developing countries, where laws advancing rights of the
disadvantaged exist only on paper but not in practice except these groups or their allies propel for the
legal enforcement of their rights. The LILEIN project will, therefore, promote the rule of law because
where the poor have more legal capacities they are better equipped to make government officials
execute the law and enforce compliance. Such legal capacities also empower disadvantaged groups to
perform a greater function in local and national law reform and to shape good governance. They are not
only orchestrated for poverty alleviation but to generally shape and embrace legal empowerment as
well as material development.

3. Implementing Legal Empowerment Initiatives For Local People

World Bank may undertake the sponsorship of paralegal initiatives in rural communities in Nigeria
to address the concerns of local people. To enhance the effectiveness of these measures, geographical
coverage for their implementation will be selected local communities with high rates of vulnerable
population especially those who suffered injuries and are internally displaced by terrorist attacks in the
Northeastern Nigeria (Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe) and the South-southern
population who have lost their creeks, farmlands, are largely internally displaced and victims of
environmental injustice (Cross River, Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta).

LILEIN initiative adopts legal education as a measure to equip the vulnerable population with
mechanisms for access to justice through “bottom-up approach”.xxvi Investment in building
beautiful court rooms and having an effective judiciary is still good but the judicial system is not
complete and cannot be effectively invoked if those for whom it is established who are majorly the
vulnerable and disadvantaged groups and persons have no access to it. Thus, in the Northern Nigeria
local people will be educated on channeling their religious grievances in forms of religious rights in
courts. Islamic religious fundamentalists will be educated on the validity of religious beliefs and that
the law does not encourage them to terrorize the states in the name of religious sentiments. This

5
initiative will begin by providing legal education on socio-economic and political rights of the
people including their right to healthy environment, resource controls, equality and property rights. It
can also be applied to localities where women are discriminated against. By these measures local
women will be educated on their rights to inheritance and to access property rights. By this scheme
World Bank can collaborate with CSOs to transform the agitations of local people in Nigeria into
litigation where mediation, reconciliation and other ADR mechanisms have failed or have yielded no
tangible outcomes.

This project will also include special findings to understand why young northern Muslims make
decisions about leaving their villages and joining Boko Haram. The aim is to launch campaigns to
discourage them from being enlisted in terrorists groups on religious grounds.

The vulnerable population can be legally empowered by legal measures that strengthen customary
courts and traditional/informal justice system. The World Bank through this project will collaborate
and fund legal training for illiterates and local paralegals to educate local people on their rights and
enforcement procedures. These incorporate data collection instruments and methods that reflect
numerous local dialects and low literacy rates. Since many local families headed by woman will not
possess paper documents for property or land, or legal certification to support their title to their
property, there should be simplified measures to permit lower thresholds of evidence. Local mediators
are more desirable because survivors and their families can be educated to translate difficult legal
concepts, tenets and cultural practices of their villages.

Equally, the project will preliminarily undertake researches on local customs that discriminate against
Nigerian women and young girls. Afterwards, it will adopt customary systems and recommend how
these systems can adequately deal with gender-based and sexual offences within diverse tribal
regions. This measures guarantees the protection of the customary rights, equality rights, protection
from illegal and harmful practices and creates opportunities for disadvantaged women and young girls
whose cases are usually not given adequate attention in the mainstream courts.

To achieve these goals, the World Bank will, therefore, collaborate with local CSOs to pilot
grassroots campaigns. Over time, it is shown that CSOs/NGOs working with local community are
effective in piloting local development and access to justice for vulnerable and groups and persons.
Assistance to civil society produces greater outcome and more sustainable impact than does support for
state institutions.xxvii Such assistance could be offered in form of aids particularly focused at legal
empowerment or as measures of mainstreaming socio-economic development. It mostly reinforces civil
society and the legal abilities and power of the disadvantaged so as to focus on their priorities, but
wherever feasible, requires cooperation with government and its agencies. This strategy, for instance,
does not just underscore how vital it is to establish the legal needs of the economically disadvantaged
and the multidimensional ways in which dysfunctional legal systems maintains their poverty, it fosters

6
supporting civil society rather than consulting civil society to aid the disadvantaged and shape their
legal capacities.

Similarly, World Bank may economically empower the vulnerable people of Niger Delta by
partnership with the nine oil-producing states or their local governments to establish State or
Local Environmental Courts with highly equipped environmental experts to handle cases of local
people which the mainstream courts hardly do. The project when effectively implemented will impact
many development sectors and give disadvantaged groups and individuals access to justice.

The effective implementation of the LILIEN Project depends on the functional engagement of vital
stakeholders, comprising of both victims and local-level officials. It is frequently the incident that
vulnerable individuals lack the knowledge, skills, confidence, or motivation to participate in ways to
enforce their rights. The above recommended legal empowerment initiatives can aid the bridging of
this gap by empowering disadvantaged persons and groups with the legal information, guidance,
support, and assurance that they require to enforce their legal rights and employ current and new
prospects obtainable through mainstream development initiatives, while offering public officials with
measures and practical guidance that will help them to better achieve their obligations in dispensing
development programs.

To effectively achieve the objects of the legal initiatives encapsulated in the LILEIN project the
requisite stakeholders [such as vulnerable groups (the victims), national and local government agencies
and legal institutions, clan and tribal leadership groups, the LILEIN Project, etc.] will have to follow
monitorable targets within the span of five years (the period up to 2023) by providing strategic
approach and specific actions for its implementation. In order to enhance the effective
implementation of these legal initiatives areas with greater risk of physical and sexual violence and
internally displaced victims should be prioritise in the span of five years. Thus, victims of serious
crimes especially those in the Northeastern Nigeria who are suffering physical injury and psychological
distress by virtue of terrorists attacks should be the starting point. As part of these legal initiatives, the
pilot legal scheme for these members of the population will focus on how they can use the law enforce
their socio-economic rights i.e. to secure livelihood and claim back their lost farmlands, which have
aided the production of cattle and crops in Nigeria.

Moreover, sessions, seminars and meetings will be piloted in local areas, policy departments and
agencies to stimulate developments in Nigeria and in other regions traditional justice schemes may
tackle gender-based and sexual violence. These reports will incorporate interviews and filed works that
samples the views of local people both females and males on gender issues to be used to give
understanding of offences and harms against women and other vulnerable groups in order to set
priorities for remedy and compensation procedures and outcomes. Findings from the field study will be
documented quarterly, yearly and final national and international reports published and circulated
within Nigeria and internationally.

7
Since these legal initiatives fit into the broad structure of World Bank Poverty Reduction Scheme xxviii it
can be integrated into World Bank loans or funds to improve the life of the vulnerable population.

Impacts Of Legal Empowerment Initiatives For Local People: Instead Of A Conclusion

These legal initiatives, suggested above, will breed more successes because they aim to reaching long-
term sustainable development to improve the living standards of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups
and individuals in Nigerian. (1) The scheme will give vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals and
groups in Nigeria access to justice through legal education. (2) It will boost access to land for women
whose rights to land and property are emasculated and inherited lands may be converted into huge
farmland for agricultural purposes. In addition, it will pursue positive and steady legal steps on the path
to socio-economic reform based on enhanced gender-balance, public participation in political life, and
safeguarding complete freedoms for women, including freedom of expression and equal property
rights, increasing empowerment of women and their capability to contribute to the political matters. (3)
This project when effectively implemented has the capacity to rehabilitate young girls who were once
abducted by Boko Haram and extreme religionists in the Northern Nigeria will be taught how to
channel their grievances through legal means as opposed to religious riots and terrorists approach. (4)
Through these initiatives victims of physical and sexual violence and internally displaced victims of
Boko haram in the Northeastern Nigeria will be empowered to secure livelihood and claim back their
lost farmlands, which have aided the production of cattle and crops in Nigeria. (5) It will be an avenue
to also educate the Niger Deltan people that the use of arms and ammunition, vandalism, and other self-
help initiatives are not avenues to access to justice, resource rights and that they can effectively have
access to justice through the adequate engagement of legal and administrative institutions.

The impacts in the selected localities stated above will be measured against monitorable improvements
in terms of how these legal initiatives affect indigenous peoples agitation for resource control
especially the Niger Delta region, the insurgency in the Northeastern Nigeria, public health, land
reform, women’s literacy and livelihood, and gender equity.

The LILEIN Project ultimately fosters legal empowerment schemes structured to enhance socio-
economic advancement, reduce poverty, promotes inclusive development, access to healthcare,
hygienic water, healthy environment and good governance.

Reference
AcPf (2011). Educating children with disabilities in Africa: towards a policy of inclusion. Addis
Ababa: The African child Policy forum

AFPODEV “Impact of Population Growth on the Attainment of the Millennium Development Goals in
Nigeria.” (2006) Abuja, Nigeria: AFRODEV.

8
Okonjo- Iweala, the Punch Newspaper, 2009:14)
>https://www.google.com/url?
sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=2ahUKEwiLvOf9vJfdAhUrCMAKHVfOAhAQFj
ACegQICBAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fpeteguest
%2F2014%2F04%2F07%2Fnigerias-gdp-grows-89-but-who-is-getting-richer
%2F&usg=AOvVaw1mI4cwQabtKHJE6Vg7fBLW

Akahalu Uchennia, “Interrogating Frustration-Aggression from Environmental Degradation in the

Niger Delta Conflict” >http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/28027/1/'AKAHALU,%20Uchennia%20.A%20-
%202014'.pdf> accessed August 20, 2018.

Charles Udosen, Abasi-Ifreke S. Etok And I.N. George, “Fifty Years Of Oil Exploration In Nigeria:
The Paradox Of Plenty” Global Journal Of Social Sciences Vol 8, No. 2, 2009: 37-47

Clifford Meesua Sibani, “Gender Inequality and its Challenge to Women Development in Nigeria: The
Religious Approach” http://dx.doi./org/10.4314/ujah.v18i2.25

Kharsany ABM, Karim QA. HIV Infection and AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: Current Status,
Challenges and Opportunities. The Open AIDS Journal. 2016;10:34-48.
doi:10.2174/1874613601610010034

Nwaobi, G. C. “Solving the Poverty Crisis in Nigeria. An Applied General Equilibrium Approach”
(2003) Quantitative Economic Research Bureau, Gwagwalada, Abuja; Peter Guest, Nigeria's GDP
Grows 89%: But Who Is Getting Richer

O.L Ovwasa, “Constraints on Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria,’ Political Science Review” (2000)
Official Journal of the Department of Political Science, University of Ilorin, Nigeria 1(1) pp. 56-80.

Okonjo-Iweala, N. Soludo, C. C., Muhtar, M. ‘Introduction’, in N. Okonjo-Iweala, C. C. Soludo, M.

Muhtar (eds) The Debt Trap in Nigeria: Towards a Sustainable Debt Strategy, (2003) Trenton, Africa
World Press, Inc. pp. 1-19.

Omotola, J .S. “Combating Poverty for Sustainable Human Development in Nigeria: The Continuing
Struggle’’(2008), Journal of Poverty, 12(4): 496-517.

Otto F. von Feigenblatt, M.A. Victor Ojakorotu,(ed.) “Contending Issues in the Niger Delta Crisis of
Nigeria Part of the Conflict and Development Series Series JAPSS Press 2009

Pilar Domingo and Tam O’Neil, “The Politics Of Legal Empowerment: Legal Mobilisation Strategies
And Implications For Development”

9
Sam Ajiye, “Achievements of Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria: A Critical Examination”
International Affairs and Global Strategy Vol.25, 2014

Stephen Golub, “Beyond Rule Of Law Orthodoxy The Legal Empowerment Alternative”
The Poverty Reduction Strategy Initiative: An Independent Evaluation of the World Bank’s Support
Through 2003 > http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTEDS14/Resources/PRSP_Evaluation.pdf>
accessed 28 August, 2018.

UNAIDS Nigeria http://www.unaids.org/en/regionscountries/countries/nigeria; 20th International AIDS

Conference Global Fact Sheet: HIV/AIDS>
https://www.aids2014.org/webcontent/file/AIDS2014_Global_Factsheet_April_2014.pdf

10
i

End notes
*This article is a revised version of a proposal shortlisted for World Bank LJD Contest for Development Solutions in Africa.
Boko Haram began as a sectarian riot between Muslims and Christians in 2000 in Kaduna and in 2002 Mohammed Yusuf founded
the sect that formally became Boko Haram in the North-Eastern Nigeria, Bornu, Maiduguri.
ii
https://www.google.com/url?
sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=2ahUKEwjRmoCb5qrdAhUOTsAKHWhpC4cQFjABegQIBBAE&url=http%3A
%2F%2Fwww.internal-displacement.org%2Fcountries%2Fnigeria&usg=AOvVaw3fbfe3-nkQcXGOv8sJwBDn
iii
http://saharareporters.com/2018/04/11/number-idps-nigeria-45-january-2018
iv
In an attempt to curb these menaces Nigerian government offered amnesty and have also tried negotiating with these terrorists
v
National Population Commission [Nigeria] and ICF Macro 2009
vi
Such measures include National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, State Economic Empowerment and
Development Strategy, O.L Ovwasa, “Constraints on Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria,’ Political Science Review” (2000) Official
Journal of the Department of Political Science, University of Ilorin, Nigeria 1(1) pp. 56-80.
vii
Clifford Meesua Sibani, “Gender Inequality and its Challenge to Women Development in Nigeria: The Religious Approach”
http://dx.doi./org/10.4314/ujah.v18i2.25
viii
ibid.
ix
Kharsany ABM, Karim QA. HIV Infection and AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: Current Status, Challenges and Opportunities.  The
Open AIDS Journal. 2016;10:34-48. doi:10.2174/1874613601610010034; UNAIDS Nigeria
http://www.unaids.org/en/regionscountries/countries/nigeria; 20th International AIDS Conference Global Fact Sheet: HIV/AIDS>
https://www.aids2014.org/webcontent/file/AIDS2014_Global_Factsheet_April_2014.pdf
x
Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/05/persons-disabilities-advocate-inclusive-participation-2019-elections/
xi
AcPf (2011). Educating children with disabilities in Africa: towards a policy of inclusion. Addis Ababa: The African child Policy
forum
xii
Otto F. von Feigenblatt, M.A. Victor Ojakorotu,(ed.) “Contending Issues in the Niger Delta Crisis of Nigeria Part of the Conflict
and Development Series Series JAPSS Press 2009
xiii
Akahalu Uchennia, “Interrogating Frustration-Aggression from Environmental Degradation in the Niger Delta Conflict”
>http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/28027/1/'AKAHALU,%20Uchennia%20.A%20-%202014'.pdf> accessed August 20, 2018.
xiv
UNDP Niger Delta Human Development Report 2006
xv
 Published September 14, 2017, in Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute (CESifo) Working Paper Series No. 6653 and
available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com.
xvi
Niger Delta Development Commission
xvii
Consolidated Council on Social and Economic Development of Coastal States of the Niger Delta
xviii
Definition of disadvantaged groups for the purpose of this project encompasses the poor women, disabled indigenous people and
different class of people who believe they are marginalized and do not have access to justice.
xix
Okonjo- Iweala, the Punch Newspaper, 2009:14); Okonjo-Iweala, N. Soludo, C. C., Muhtar, M. ‘Introduction’, in N. Okonjo-
Iweala, C. C. Soludo, M. Muhtar (eds) The Debt Trap in Nigeria: Towards a Sustainable Debt Strategy , (2003) Trenton, Africa
World Press, Inc. pp. 1-19.
xx
Omotola, J .S. “Combating Poverty for Sustainable Human Development
in Nigeria: The Continuing Struggle’’(2008), Journal of Poverty, 12(4): 496-517.
xxi
Charles Udosen, Abasi-Ifreke S. Etok And I.N. George, “Fifty Years Of Oil Exploration In Nigeria: The Paradox Of Plenty”
Global Journal Of Social Sciences Vol 8, No. 2, 2009: 37-47; Nwaobi, G. C. “Solving the Poverty Crisis in Nigeria. An Applied
General Equilibrium Approach” (2003) Quantitative Economic Research Bureau, Gwagwalada, Abuja; Peter Guest, Nigeria's GDP
Grows 89%: But Who Is GettingRicher?
>https://www.google.com/url?
sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=2ahUKEwiLvOf9vJfdAhUrCMAKHVfOAhAQFjACegQICBAB&url=https%3A
%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fpeteguest%2F2014%2F04%2F07%2Fnigerias-gdp-grows-89-but-who-is-getting-richer
%2F&usg=AOvVaw1mI4cwQabtKHJE6Vg7fBLW
xxii
AFPODEV “Impact of Population Growth on the Attainment of the Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria.” (2006) Abuja,
Nigeria: AFRODEV.
xxiii
https://tradingeconomics.com/nigeria/gdp-growth-annual; Regional economic outlook. Sub-Saharan Africa. — Washington,
D.C.: International Monetary Fund, 2003
xxiv
Sam Ajiye, “Achievements of Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria: A Critical Examination” International Affairs and
Global Strategy Vol.25, 2014
xxv
Stephen Golub, “Beyond Rule Of Law Orthodoxy The Legal Empowerment Alternative”
xxvi
The LILIEN approach fosters legal initiatives to strengthen the poor and the disadvantaged group and equip them with the legal
paraphernalia required to defend and enforce their rights.
xxvii
Pilar Domingo and Tam O’Neil, “The Politics Of Legal Empowerment: Legal Mobilisation Strategies And Implications For
Development”
xxviii
The Poverty Reduction Strategy Initiative: An Independent Evaluation of the World Bank’s Support Through 2003 >
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTEDS14/Resources/PRSP_Evaluation.pdf> accessed 28 August, 2018.