Environmental Justice and the Rights of Future Generations in Nigerian Constitutional Law: A Theoretical Construction

Environmental degradation in Nigeria, driven by hydrocarbon extraction, deforestation, desertification in the North, and coastal erosion in the South, generates harms that extend across generations, disproportionately burdening future Nigerians who bear no responsibility for their creation. Constitutional law has historically been ill-equipped to address intergenerational environmental justice, focusing on the rights of existing rights-holders. The National Climate Change Act 2021 represents an initial legislative engagement with long-term environmental responsibility, but the theoretical foundations of intergenerational environmental rights in Nigerian constitutional law remain underdeveloped. This doctoral research constructs an original theory of intergenerational environmental rights and obligations within Nigerian constitutional law, making a foundational scholarly contribution to the intersection of environmental law, constitutional theory, and future generations scholarship. A legal theory methodology is employed, drawing on intergenerational justice philosophy from Rawls and Jonas, African Ubuntu ethics, comparative environmental constitutionalism from Ecuador, Uganda, and New Zealand, and doctrinal analysis of Nigerian environmental and constitutional provisions from 2018 to 2024. Primary empirical data was gathered through interviews with environmental constitutionalism scholars, Climate Change Act implementation officers, and civil society environmental justice advocates. The research makes original scholarly contributions through a Future Generations Rights Theory calibrated to Nigerian constitutional values; a proposed constitutional right to a healthy environment for future generations; and an institutional design for an intergenerational equity commission with standing to bring constitutional review proceedings. Keywords: environmental justice, future generations, constitutional law, climate change, Nigeria.