Water Rights and the Law in the Lake Chad Basin: A Transboundary Legal Framework for Nigeria

Lake Chad has experienced a dramatic reduction in surface area over recent decades, driven by climate change, agricultural abstraction, and population growth, generating acute competition for water resources among riparian states including Nigeria, Chad, Niger, and Cameroon. For Nigeria, the shrinkage of Lake Chad directly threatens the livelihoods and food security of communities in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa States. The legal framework governing transboundary water rights in the Lake Chad Basin requires rigorous scholarly analysis to identify obligations, resolve competing claims, and propose governance reforms. This doctoral research constructs an original transboundary water rights legal framework for Nigeria's engagement with Lake Chad Basin governance, contributing foundational scholarship at the intersection of international water law, African environmental law, and human rights. A multi-method legal research methodology is employed, combining doctrinal analysis of the Lake Chad Basin Convention, UN Watercourses Convention, and African Union Water Vision with empirical field research in Borno State riparian communities. Elite interviews were conducted with Lake Chad Basin Commission officials, Nigerian Ministry of Water Resources legal advisers, and water governance scholars. Secondary sources include international water law scholarship, comparative transboundary water agreements, and climate adaptation governance literature from 2019 to 2024. The research makes three original scholarly contributions: a systematic mapping of Nigeria's legal obligations under Lake Chad governance instruments; an original Integrated Water Rights Framework for Lake Chad riparian communities; and a normative theory of climate-adaptive transboundary water law. Keywords: water rights, Lake Chad, transboundary law, international water law, climate adaptation.