A Theoretical Framework for the Study of Transitional Justice and Its Application to Nigeria’s Post-Conflict Contexts

Transitional justice encompasses truth-telling, reparation, accountability, and institutional reform mechanisms designed to address mass atrocity legacies, and its theoretical application to Nigeria's multiple post-conflict contexts, including post-civil war, post-military dictatorship, and ongoing North East insurgency, requires original theoretical development adapted to Nigeria's specific socio-legal context. This study developed an original theoretical framework for transitional justice in Nigerian post-conflict contexts. A constructive theoretical methodology integrating transitional justice scholarship, Nigerian constitutional law, comparative post-conflict experience, and primary empirical research was adopted. Systematic review of 58 transitional justice theory publications from 2018 to 2024 was supplemented by analysis of Nigeria's Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission (Oputa Panel) proceedings, structured interviews with 25 transitional justice scholars, lawyers, victims' advocates, and cultural leaders across six geopolitical zones. The systematic review confirmed that mainstream transitional justice frameworks inadequately account for Nigeria's multi-conflict layering, the role of customary and Islamic law alternatives to formal transitional mechanisms, the complication of ongoing active conflict in the North East while implementing transitional processes, and the absence of a completed conflict phase that conventionally precedes transitional justice activation. The original Nigerian Transitional Justice Framework proposes a concurrent-layered model that distinguishes between completed historical conflict transitions and active conflict transitional needs, and integrates formal judicial, customary, and Islamic law mechanisms within a coherent normative architecture. Expert review confirmed the framework's original theoretical contribution to transitional justice scholarship.

Keywords: transitional justice, post-conflict, Nigeria, accountability, original framework