The legal and institutional framework for the protection of religious rights in Nigeria and the right to wear Hijab in public institutions.

Background: Religion and its exercise are one of the most sensitive discourses in different parts of the world, especially in Nigeria. The constitution and other laws ensure citizens are afforded basic human rights of which religious rights are included and yet regulated. There are questions of interpretation as the extent to which such rights can be enjoyed and the efficacy of both the legal and institutional frameworks protecting religious rights in Nigeria. Methods: This article utilises a doctrinal legal research approach utilising existing literature, statutes, and laws enacted towards the protection of religious rights in Nigeria with the consideration of primary and secondary sources of laws including the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), judicial precedents, International Conventions, law textbooks, and peer-reviewed journals. A comparative analysis of Nigeria, Tunisia, Algeria, Turkey and Kazakhstan was done to gain perspectives on balancing conflicting interests in light of Nigeria's heterogeneous status. As part of the contribution to knowledge, a hybrid model for mitigating the socio-legal effect of the usage of hijab in Nigeria's public institutions is presented to further enrich Nigeria's jurisprudence. Results: Nigeria, being a multi-ethnic and multi-religious state, demonstrates that the government must protect the public interests as it relates to religious rights regardless of faith or religion. The study reveals that the current legal approach without further legislative intervention on religious issues will be inadequate to address the problem. Therefore, this study presents a hybrid model for mitigating the socio-legal effect of the usage of hijab in Nigeria's public institutions to avoid harm and further enrich Nigeria's jurisprudence. Conclusions: This study concludes that Nigeria's legal and institutional frameworks are adequate for their purpose although they must be tweaked to conform with current trends when required to be at par with the widely accepted or world standard.