Common Bars To Enforcement Of Rights

By Ubong S. Ebong Esq. -
We have been talking about different strands of human rights but at this juncture I feel it's important to talk about certain factors that could act as barriers to a successful enforcement of your rights. I feel this topic is necessary because sometimes victims of human rights violations unknowingly do or omit to do certain things, & when they later try to enforce or protect their rights they then discover that their earlier actions or omissions have robbed them of the opportunity to do so. This won't be exhaustive but just a brief overview so consult your lawyer for more information.

Firstly, let us understand that the rights of every Nigerian citizen can be broadly classified into 2 groups: 
1) fundamental rights - which are those rights that are clearly stated in chapter IV of the Constitution, &
2) other rights - which, although not contained in the Constitution, are still potent rights capable of being enforced. These include: economic rights, social rights, labour rights, political rights, cultural rights etc. It's not like these rights are lesser in any way, it's just that there are not expressly written in the Constitution.

For the fundamental rights, these enjoy the highest level of protection directly from the Constitution itself so there are easily enforceable in court with little or no limitations. These fundamental rights include: right to life; right to dignity of human person; right to personal liberty; right to fair hearing; right to private & family life; right to freedom of thought, conscience & religion; right to freedom of expression & the press; right to peaceful assembly & association; right to freedom of movement; right to freedom from discrimination; & right to acquire & own immovable property.

For the non-fundamental rights, several principles & provisions of law could act as a bar to their enforcement. The most common of these bars are: Statutes of Limitations. These are simply laws which define specific periods within which a person can commence an action to remedy any damage or infringement suffered by him/her. For example, the Limitation Law of Akwa Ibom State provides that:
a) the right to commence a court action to recover land expires after 10years,
b) the right to commence a court action to claim inheritance from the estate of a deceased person expires after 10years,
c) the right to commence a court action in relation to any contract or torts expires after 5years etc.
The Public Officers Protection Act also provides that the right to sue a public officer for any act done by him/her in the course of his/her official duty expires after 3months unless there was an element of fraud involved.

What all these means is that: if any of your rights has been violated or someone has wrongfully caused you to suffer any damages, but you fail to commence an action in court to seek remedy/compensation for your damages within the time frame prescribed by law, you will then permanently lose ur right to claim any such compensation/remedy.

Other possible hindrances to a successful legal action to enforce ur rights include:
1) waiver - where a person expressly & deliberately forgoes or abandons his/her rights.
2) Estoppel - where Mr. A's words or conducts leads Mr. B (who is relying on those words or conducts) to act in a certain way, Mr. A cannot later change his position to the detriment of Mr. B.
3) Laches - means lack of diligence or an unreasonably lengthy delay in enforcing one's rights.
4) Acquiescence - means knowingly allowing another person, who is acting ignorantly & without malice, to do a thing that is inconsistent with your rights.

In summary, just because you have rights doesn't mean you should be careless or sluggish. Always endeavour to act diligently whenever your rights have been infringed or are likely to be infringed, otherwise you will permanently lose that right without any remedy/compensation. There are many cases in court where people have lost their rights because of being too relaxed so try to avoid such fate. Don't make silly mistakes that you will regret!

Cheers!
#KYR


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