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The Constitution
Chapter IV sets out the rights every person in Nigeria holds — life, dignity, liberty, fair hearing, privacy, expression, assembly, movement, freedom from discrimination and property — together with the route to enforce them.
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)
Our explanation, written for a general reader. It is not the text of the law.
The Constitution is the supreme law: where any other law is inconsistent with it, the Constitution prevails. Chapter IV is the part that speaks directly to individuals, listing the rights the state must respect and that a court can be asked to protect.
These rights are not absolute. The Constitution qualifies several of them in their own wording — permitting, for example, deprivation of liberty in defined circumstances such as a lawful arrest. The qualification is part of the right, not an exception invented afterwards.
Chapter IV also creates the route to enforcement. A person who says a right has been, is being, or is likely to be contravened may apply to a High Court in the state where it happened. The Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules govern how that application is made, and are designed to be faster and less formal than an ordinary civil claim.
Where the official text lives, beside what it means in ordinary language.
Official text
Right to dignity of the human person
Constitution 1999 (as amended), s. 34
Plain language — our explanation
No one may be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment, held in slavery or servitude, or required to perform forced labour. It is the provision most often relied on where a person is beaten, humiliated or coerced in custody.
Official text
Right to personal liberty
Constitution 1999 (as amended), s. 35
Plain language — our explanation
Personal liberty may only be taken away in the circumstances the section itself lists and by a procedure the law permits. It also requires that a person be told the reason for their arrest and be brought before a court within the time the section allows.
Official text
Right to fair hearing
Constitution 1999 (as amended), s. 36
Plain language — our explanation
A person facing a criminal charge, or a determination of their civil rights and obligations, is entitled to a fair hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial court or tribunal — including the presumption of innocence in a criminal case.
Official text
Enforcement
Constitution 1999 (as amended), s. 46
Plain language — our explanation
A person who says a Chapter IV right has been or is likely to be breached may apply to a High Court in the state where the breach occurred or is threatened. This is the doorway to the fundamental rights procedure.
In real life
A person is held at a station for days without being told why, and without being taken before a court.
The complaint engages the liberty provision directly: being told the reason for an arrest, and the time limits for producing a person before a court, are part of the right itself, not a courtesy.
In real life
A state agency demands a person hand over their phone and unlock it, with no warrant and no explanation.
Privacy under the Constitution is engaged, and duties under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 may be too. The lawful basis for the demand is the question a lawyer will start from.
What you should do
What you should not do
“Fundamental rights only protect Nigerian citizens.”
Chapter IV speaks of every person in Nigeria for most of the rights it guarantees. A few provisions elsewhere in the Constitution are expressly limited to citizens.
“If a right is breached, the system corrects it automatically.”
Enforcement is something a person or their lawyer starts in court. The Constitution provides the right and the route; it does not act on its own.
What this instrument was, what changed, and what is in force now. Superseded versions are kept on the record rather than deleted.
What changed
If you are relying on a constitutional provision, the alterations are where you check that the version in your hand is still the operative one.
What changed
What changed
This is the alteration behind the modern position of the National Industrial Court, and behind the long argument about appeals from it.
What changed
What changed
Everything the platform explains about rights, courts and legislative competence begins here.
When to speak to a lawyer