The Human Rights Institute (HRI) of the National Human Rights Commission has approved a major research project by legal scholar and health-rights advocate, Dr. Jennifer Heaven Mike-Oworodo, for presentation at its national conference.
The national conference is scheduled for November 19 and 20, 2025.
The project, titled “Operationalizing Reproductive Health Rights in Nigeria: A Multi-dimensional Framework for Addressing the Policy-Practice Divide,” was selected for its groundbreaking approach to bridging Nigeria’s widening gap between health policies and real-world access to care.
Dr. Mike-Oworodo, a leading voice in the country’s campaign for health justice, said Nigeria must confront the structural failures that deny millions equitable access to healthcare.
“Health justice requires fairness. Every person, regardless of gender, class or location, deserves access to the care they need to live a dignified life,” she said.
A Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at DePauw University and Assistant Professor of Law at the American University of Nigeria, she warned that Nigeria’s health challenges, from underfunded hospitals to overstretched medical workers, stem partly from weak legal protections.
Although the Constitution recognises the right to health, she noted that citizens cannot legally enforce it.
“This is why people have no recourse when the system fails them,” she said, adding that the situation is worsened by governance lapses, politicised health budgeting and corruption, which continue to fuel the migration of skilled professionals.
She also emphasised reproductive justice as a critical but neglected area in Nigeria’s health landscape, calling for clearer regulations on assisted reproductive technologies and surrogacy.
According to her, policies must reflect intersectional realities: “A poor rural woman faces different barriers from an educated urban man. Our system must acknowledge these differences.”
Dr. Mike-Oworodo recommended four urgent reforms: making the right to health legally enforceable; increasing transparent funding and management of health services; adopting gender-sensitive health policies; and involving communities in designing their own health priorities.
“Health is not charity, it is justice,” she said. “Until Nigeria treats healthcare as a right, not a privilege, the goal of a healthy nation will remain out of reach.”
Her research presentation at the HRI national conference is expected to shape ongoing national conversations on health law, governance, rights and accountability.