Law and Implementation at Cross Purposes: Paying Lip Service to Gender Equality in Nigeria

Abstract

On March 8, 2026 President Bola Tinubu performed the yearly ritual of celebrating
Nigerian women.1

Like every President before him, he paid lip service to noting
their role in driving development and national progress, and express the duty of his
government to pursue equality. To most Nigerian women, these yearly rituals are
mere words as their daily lived experience is one of inequality, regardless of status,
qualification or economic capacity. Nigeria has taken on obligations under various
multilateral treaties aimed at achieving gender equality. Commitments
notwithstanding, the pace of progress in fulfilling the obligations is slow. The
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and its
Optional Protocol, as well as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
(ACHPR) and Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on
the Rights of Women (Maputo Protocol) form the major treaties underscoring
Nigeria’s obligation to promote gender equality. Though they were CEDAW and
ACHPR were ratified decades earlier, domestication and implementation remain
low. The objective of this paper is to examine Nigeria’s commitments under the
aforementioned gender equality treaties and the extent to which the commitments
have been met. The paper also barriers to the implantation of gender equality
treaties and how the international community can help in achieving that goal. In the
section immediately following this, the two treaties are examined. The next section
examines some of the implementation mechanisms built into the treaties and their
effectiveness. Thereafter, barriers to implementation are examined and the paper
identifies international pressure as a possible avenue to catalyze implementation.