THE PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES RIGHTS ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN IMPLIMENTATION IN NIGERIA

Women including girls in Nigeria, Africa and the world at large constitute a very significant population whose future, rights and developments must not be ignored, neglected and or deprived for the development and progress of any society. However, women in Nigeria and other Africa countries often than not suffer from series of neglect, abuse, harmful and discriminatory practices and violence from the members of the society for one reason or the other ranging from economic, social but most importantly, cultural and or religions values, beliefs and considerations. In other words, women do not get proper fair and equal treatment with respects to their inherent rights by virtue of being human beings, compared with men. Therefore, human rights organizations at national, regional and international levels, especially, gender based organizations, such as Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative (WRAPA), Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF, Nigeria) and the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights Coalition (SOAWR), have continued to fight for and ensure the protection and promotion of women’s rights in Nigeria and the African continent in accordance with international standards. Nigeria being a member of various international and regional organizations, like the United Nation (UN), the African Union (AU) (formerly OAU) etc has signed and ratified several and treaties that seek to guarantee, protect and promote women’s rights in the world. Therefore, Nigeria is bound to respect and promote women’s rights in accordance with the international standards set out in such treaties, conventions! and protocols. However, under International Law and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, such protocols and a