Nigeria
Sources for Nigeria
Every source used for the Nigeria pages, what each supports, how it was accessed, and where its scope ends.
Facts on this page were checked against their sources on .
The Nigeria pages rest on the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), retrieved as the full official PDF hosted by the National Human Rights Commission and read verbatim including the Second Schedule legislative lists; the World Prison Brief; a 2004 Human Rights Watch report (for the dating of the northern Sharia penal codes); and the National Assembly Library Trust Fund (for the status of the pending state-police bill). Each was read or retrieved and confirmed on 27 July 2026 and independently re-checked; the constitutional quotes, the tier allocation, the prison figures and the twelve-state Sharia list were confirmed verbatim.
The full register, with the precise scope and stated limitations of every source, is published in the repository at docs/research/nigeria-source-register.md.
Sources
Sources
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)
National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria (official text host) · Legislation · 1999 · link verified 2026-07-27
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended, the copy carrying amendments through 2011), downloaded as the full official PDF (775,326 bytes, 137 pages) and confirmed verbatim in two independent passes. Supports: s 4 and the Second Schedule (the division of legislative power — the Exclusive Legislative List for the Federation, the Concurrent List for both, and residual matters for the States under s 4(7)); Exclusive List item 45 and s 214(1) ("There shall be a police force for Nigeria … no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof" — a single national police); Exclusive List item 48 ("Prisons" — federal corrections); s 6(5) (the superior courts of record — the federal Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, Federal High Court and FCT High Court, and the State High Courts, Sharia Courts of Appeal and Customary Courts of Appeal); s 230/233/235 (the Supreme Court as apex, its decisions final); s 237 (the Court of Appeal); s 275/280 (State Sharia and Customary Courts of Appeal, headed by a Grand Kadi); s 150/174 (the Attorney-General of the Federation, a Minister and Chief Law Officer, with power to institute, take over or discontinue federal prosecutions) and s 195/211 (each State Attorney-General with the mirror power for state offences); s 215 (the Inspector-General commanding the Nigeria Police Force, with the President's lawful-directions power); s 153 and the Third Schedule (the National Judicial Council, the Police Service Commission and the Nigeria Police Council); and s 81(3)/292 (judicial funding through the NJC and security of tenure). Establishes that Nigeria is a federation in which police and prisons are federal, while courts, prosecution and (residually) criminal law operate at both the federal and state levels.
Human Rights Watch · Institutional (self-description) · 2004 · link verified 2026-07-27
The chapter of the 2004 Human Rights Watch report describing how Shari'a was extended to criminal law in northern Nigeria, read directly. Supports, by dated attribution, that from 1999 to 2001 twelve northern states adopted Shari'a criminal legislation (the report: "By 2002, twelve states had adopted some form of Shari'a into their criminal legislation" — Zamfara first, the Governor introducing Shari'a for criminal law within a year of 1999). Cited for the fact and dating of the sub-national criminal-law variant; the report's own assessments of that legislation's human-rights effects are contested and are not asserted here as fact.
National Assembly Library Trust Fund (Nigeria) · Government publication · 2026-06-26 · link verified 2026-07-27
The National Assembly Library Trust Fund report of 26 June 2026 on the Constitution (Alteration) (State Police) Bill, read directly. Supports, by dated attribution, that the bill had passed both chambers of the National Assembly and — verbatim — "To become law, the bill must now be ratified by at least 24 State Houses of Assembly before being transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for his assent," i.e. it was not yet law as of that date. Cited only for the status and procedural next steps of a pending reform; the debate over whether its safeguards are sufficient is attributed to its proponents and critics, not stated as fact.
Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (ICPR), Birkbeck, University of London · Academic · link verified 2026-07-27
The World Prison Brief country page for Nigeria (compiled by ICPR from the national prison administration, the Nigerian Correctional Service), read directly and re-confirmed by hand. Supports: a total prison population of 81,902 including pre-trial detainees at 22 June 2026; a rate of 34 per 100,000 based on an estimated national population of 238.95 million at mid-2026 (UN figures); an official capacity of 65,035 dated 30 June 2025; and an occupancy level of 125.6% dated 30 June 2025. The population figure is dated June 2026 while the capacity and occupancy carry a June 2025 date, so the figures do not share a single reference date.