FUNDAMENTAL OBJECTIVES AND DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES OF STATE POLICY IN NIGERIAN AND INDIAN CONSTITUTIONS: NIGERIA’S NEED FOR JUDICIAL PROACTIVENESS

Abstract

The Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy which was first introduced into the 1979 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and retained in Chapter II of the 1999 Constitution as amended is generally believed to have been borrowed from similar provisions in Part IV of the 1950 Constitution of India. The Nigerian Constitution like the Indian Constitution classifies various rights into two-rights which are fundamental and justiciable, and rights which are not fundamental and non-justiciable. Chapter IV of the Nigerian Constitution like Part III of Indian’s contains provisions on Fundamental Rights, while Chapter II like Part IV of Indian Constitution contains provisions on Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy. Ironically, while the Indian judiciary has through judicial activism put life into the provisions of its Part IV and has elevated them into enforceable rights, the same cannot be said of Nigeria. The Nigerian Courts have continued to insist that Chapter II of the Constitution is not justiciable or enforceable. It is this different application of similar provisions in the said Constitutions by the judiciary in the two countries that is the focus of this essay. Suggestions for reforms are also made and conclusion drawn.