The search light for environmental rights in Nigeria has been focused on the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) with occasional references to case laws, which are limited and unprogressive on the subject. Most reviews of relevant legislations on the environment have been centered on themes such as environmental protection, environmental degradation, and damage arising from pollution. Apart from studies on whether the Constitution guarantees any right to clean environment, inquiries are hardly directed at the provisions of other statutes and policies on the environment on the extent to which they support environmental rights. This paper is a review of some salient legislations on environmental protection with a view to establish legislative authority for the right to clean and a healthy and sustainable environment in Nigeria. There exists a notable legislative platform on which one may insist on the right to clean environment in Nigeria notwithstanding the constitutional constraints on the enforcement of the duty of the Government to protect and improve the environment.
Customary law marriages in Nigeria are not only recognised as legal unions but also confer on parties a measure of rights and privileges. Unfortunately, these rights and privileges are far less attractive compared to those associated with marriages conducted under the Marriage Act. Prominent among these rights is the right to maintenance. The purpose of this paper is to make a case for the recognition of the right of spouses under customary law to maintenance, especially giving that customary law is dynamic, flexible and must be acceptable to the people. This research reveals that recent behaviours under traditional African customary law tend to favour the extension of the English rule of maintenance to spouses of customary law marriage, especially the wife. Recent judicial pronouncements ascribing important proprietary right to Nigerian women and the general and gradual changes in certain obnoxious and oppressive customary gender-based practices as well as recent local legislation restoring the prestige and status of the woman in Nigeria all tend to support the case that it is high time the right of spouses under customary law to maintenance was recognised.
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