EXAMINATION OF THE ENFORCEMENT GAP IN THE COMPULSORY TREATEMENT AND CARE FOR VICTIMS OF GUNSHOT ACT 2017 IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The Compulsory Treatment and care for Victims of Gunshot ACT 2017 was enacted to address the long-standing practice of delays in medical treatment for victims of gun violence or gunshot injuries in Nigeria. Often, gunshot victims have found it very difficult to get urgent medical care in hospitals, often on the grounds that a police report had not been produced. Despite the clear humanitarian effort and public objective of this Act, reports of refusal of treatment and preventable deaths persist across the country. The Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act 2017 was enacted to remedy the situation. The Act requires all hospitals, public or private, to provide immediate, adequate treatment to gunshot victims without requiring a police report or upfront payment, aiming to save lives by removing barriers to emergency care. The National Health Act 2014 also makes it an offense for health care providers, heath workers and health establishments to refuse a person’s emergency treatment. This article examine the enforcement gap between the normative provisions of the Act and its practical implementation. Adopting the doctrinal and comparative approach, the article examine some of the challenges and impediments undermining the implementation of the existing law. The article argue that the failure of enforcement is not primarily a defect of legislative intent but of weak accountability mechanisms, inadequate coordination and the lack of institutional sanctions, it conclude by proposing targeted legal and institutional reforms aimed at transforming the act from a symbolic intervention into an effective lifesaving instrument.