An Original Contribution to the Theory of Environmental Constitutionalism and Corporate Environmental Accountability in Nigeria

Environmental constitutionalism, the recognition of constitutional environmental rights and the imposition of corresponding corporate duties, is an emerging global legal phenomenon, yet Nigeria's environmental constitutional provisions under sections 20 and 33 of the 1999 Constitution as amended remain judicially underenforced and theoretically underdeveloped as a basis for corporate environmental accountability. This study makes an original contribution to the theory of environmental constitutionalism in Nigeria, developing an original Nigerian Environmental Constitutionalism Model (NECM) that articulates the constitutional foundations, scope, and enforcement mechanisms of corporate environmental obligations under the 1999 Constitution as amended. The NECM is developed through systematic constitutional text analysis, comparative constitutional environmental rights jurisprudence from Kenya, South Africa, India, Colombia, and Ecuador, and analysis of all available Nigerian court decisions on section 20 and related constitutional provisions. The study employs a mixed doctrinal and empirical methodology, combining constitutional interpretation analysis with a study of 15 environmental litigation cases involving corporate defendants in Nigerian courts from 2010 to 2023 and structured interviews with 25 environmental lawyers, constitutional scholars, and civil society advocates. Results indicate that section 20's classification as a directive principle of state policy rather than a justiciable fundamental right is the primary barrier to constitutional environmental accountability, though judicial evolution toward substantive enforcement is detectable in recent decisions. The NECM proposes constitutional amendment, legislative activation, and judicial interpretive strategies that would progressively realise environmental constitutionalism in Nigeria within the existing constitutional framework.

Keywords: environmental constitutionalism, corporate environmental accountability, constitutional law, Nigeria, fundamental rights