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The Church\u2019s Response to Human Rights Issues in Africa:
With Particular Reference to Nigeria

The Church in Africa and the Universal Church in general has to exercise the divine authority of promoting social justice and creating awareness of the causes of injustice. The Church has to actively participate in changing the social, economic and political structures that inflict human pain and misery on Africans. This article is an attempt the set the records straight of how the Church can assist achieve this divine objective by tackling social justice issues on the African continent with some little bias on Nigeria. This will assist us judge our individual contribution towards assisting the oppressed and the marginalized of our countries in finding succour in the words of Christ, \u201cYou shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free\u201d [John 8: 32]. The Church in Africa can do more if we the truth as found in the Holy Scriptures. But the words of Jesus are clear, \u201cDo unto others as you would like them to do unto you\u201d [Lk. 6: 31] These words are meant to assist us understand our purpose in life and this article begins from this perspective. This article will preoccupy itself with this concept of man in regard to his rights in society and it will explore the responses of the Universal Church, the African Church and the local Nigerian Church to this basic need of man.

The violations of human rights in Africa today is becoming rampant and the Church must have to respond to this growing phenomenon. According to the Second Vatican Council document, \u201cthe focal point of our total presentation will be the person; whole and entire, body and soul, heart and conscience, mind and will\u201d [Gaudium et Spes, n. 3]. For the message of Christ to find roots in the African continent, the Church has to identify with the poor, the distressed and marginalized peoples of Africa whose fundamental human rights are daily tramped upon because of race, sex, religion or opinion.

There is much attention given to Africa today because of the multitude of social problems which beset her especially the displaced peoples who die of hunger and malnutrition annually as a result of wars and conflicts; and numerous peoples who suffer structural injustices under oppressive and dictatorial governments and regimes. There is also the widening gap between the rich and the poor which continue to sideline the poor and subject them to servitude and silence.2 The Church therefore as an institution of social justice has to speak against these injustices, oppressions and violations of the fundamental human rights of man because some African governments by so doing violate God\u2019s purpose of creating human beings.3 The Church in Africa and the Universal Church in generalhas to exercise the divine authority of promoting social justice and creating awareness of the causes of injustices. The Church has to actively participate in changing the social, economic and political structures that inflict human pain and misery on Africans. This process involves conscientizing the Christians to condemn evil and any form of injustice that debases human dignity and to support social welfare of the poor, to assist the oppressed, to improve their conditions. The Church firmly believes that the neglect of human rights by nations will inflict untold hardships and disaster on humanity and consequently threaten world peace. No wander then, the Second Vatican Council document Gaudium et Spes declared that, \u201cthe social order and its development must constantly yield to the person, since the order of things must be subordinate to the order of persons and not the other way round . . .\u201d [n. 26]. This article will also reflect on the Special Synod for Africa with the theme \u2018The Church in Africa Towards the Third Millennium\u2019. The bishops must address the question of human rights on the continent so that the liberating message of Jesus Christ will yield abundant fruits.

Human rights are the God-given rights or privileges which are believed to be enjoyed by all human beings by virtue of being human beings without distinction of race, birth, class, faith or any other physical or spiritual trait. And because they are God-given rights, they arenatu ral or

natural law which is concerned with the realm of justice and juridical order between men.5 No human being can bestow these divinely given rights to man because they are already God\u2019s gifts for man\u2019s enjoyment. The major task of the government inter alia is the defense of these divine

rights of man through the appropriate organs of government by juridical protection, in order that the exercise of one\u2019s personal rights does not hinder another from exercising his or her rights. Thus these rights enable us to live in decency, security and dignity.

The concept has a biblical foundation. In the Old Testament both in the Law [Deut. 24: 8 \u2013 22; Ex. 21: 16; Lev. 13 \u2013 14] and the Prophets [Amos 8: 4 \u2013 14], the idea is found. In the New Testament, the axiom is summarized thus: \u201cwhatever you wish that men do to you, do so to them\u201d often referred to as the \u2018golden rule\u2019 [cf. Matt. 7: 12; and Lk. 6: 31].

Islam as a religion too subscribes to this basic conviction.6 But this conviction is often exaggerated to the extreme of denying; human rights\u2019 in the name of God. For instance, the imposition of Islamic Law as the Will of Allah for all or restricting the freedom of others because of belief systems. That\u2019s why both Christians and Muslims have to enter into dialogue to comprehend each other\u2019s views concerning the basic concepts of \u2018human rights\u2019.

The concept of the dignity of the human person is deeply rooted in the traditional African heritage. But is should be noted that human rights as a concept was coined by the philosophers of the Enlightenment and came to light during the American and French revolutions which expanded into new thinking and legislation to protect peoples\u2019 rights. However the concept has an African understanding as can seen in early writings about Africa. According to E. A. Ruch such rights \u201care human precisely because they are rooted in a conviction of man\u2019s essential place and role in the order of the universe.\u201d7 Ruch\u2019s idea is in agreement with Placid Tempel\u2019s conviction that \u201camong the non-civilized people one finds an unaltered awareness of human nature of rights.\u201d8 Modern African political scientists maintain this theory in the traditional view of human rights as communitarian. For example, Julius Nyerere\u2019s idea of social justice reveals individual dignity not only for him as a basic principle, but also as a principle based on the primary principle of social equality and beneficence. J. S. Mbiti has defined the African as \u201cnotoriously religious\u201d, a social person that seeks company and hospitality with both the known and the unknown.9 L. S. Senghor stated that, \u201cin Africa, ari ght takes upon itself the form of the rite which must be obeyed because it commands. It is inseparable from the obligations due to the family and to the community.\u201d Perhaps that\u2019s why the African Charter supports individual duties