The Human Rights Dimensions of Nigeria’s Anti-Corruption Framework: Criminalization, Due Process, and Social Rights

This doctoral research provides a comprehensive human rights analysis of Nigeria's anti-corruption legal framework, developing an original theoretical model that integrates criminalization efficiency, due process rights, and social rights realization as co-equal normative pillars of a human rights-compliant anti-corruption architecture. Anti-corruption law in Nigeria, operationalized through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) Act, and the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act, is conventionally analyzed in governance and law enforcement terms, while its human rights dimensions, both positive (recovering stolen assets for social rights funding) and negative (due process violations in prosecution), receive insufficient integrated analysis. The research draws on the UN Convention Against Corruption's Article 5 human rights-based approach, Transparency International's human rights and anti-corruption convergence framework, and the ICCPR's fair trial guarantees to construct an integrative theoretical model. A dual doctrinal-empirical methodology combines systematic doctrinal analysis of EFCC and ICPC statutory frameworks and prosecutorial practices with empirical analysis of 60 EFCC prosecutions decided between 2020 and 2024, examining due process compliance indicators alongside asset recovery outcomes. Findings reveal a persistent tension between aggressive prosecution tactics and fair trial rights, including politically selective prosecution, prolonged pretrial detention, and denial of bail for corruption charges. An original Human Rights-Compatible Anti-Corruption Framework (HCACF) for Nigeria is proposed. Keywords: anti-corruption, human rights, due process, EFCC, asset recovery.