THE NIGERIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
ISSN: 0331-4111 e-ISSN: 2736-075X
Volume 22, No. 2, November 2024
Pages 132-147
DOI: 10.36108/NJSA/4202.22.0290
Jungle Justice and Human Rights Governance in Nasarawa State, Nigeria
1 Obadiah Illah, 2 Ada Moses Emmanuel and 3 Christiana Clement Illah
1 Department of General Studies, Isa Mustapha Agwai I Polytechnic, Lafia, Nigeria
2 Department of Social Development, Isa Mustapha Agwai I Polytechnic, Lafia, Nigeria
3 Confidence Building Initiative International (COBII), Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria
Abstract
The paper assessed the practice of jungle justice as a violation of human rights in Nasarawa State. The objectives include examining whether people are aware that jungle justice is a violation of human rights, whether the practice influences human rights governance in the state and what can be done to stop the practice. Frustration Aggression theory was adopted as explanatory framework. Data were collected through a triangulation of quantitative and qualitative methods. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select from 7 out of the 13 LGAs of Nasarawa State selected through simple random. Five wards were chosen from each of the selected LGAs and respondents were drawn from randomly selected households. While quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, qualitative information were subjected to content-analysis. Findings show that human rights governance in Nasarawa State is not administered as supposed. It is recommended that government should carry out extensive reform of the judicial process in the State in line with the global best practice, ensure justice administration is visible, social control structures formal or informal tilted toward massive awareness campaigns and enlightenment programmes on the right to fair hearing contained in the 1999 constitution of Nigeria, among others.
Keywords: Criminal justice administration, human rights governance, fair hearing, jungle justice, judicial independence