The concept of parental responsibility has obviously been coined in the English legal system. The
significance of the concept appears to reside in its practicality. This paper aims to analyse the concept
of parental responsibility in the Nigerian context. The paper seeks to determine whether parental
responsibility can be effectively excised in Nigeria. Although it is characterised by its practicality in
terms of guarantees of child protection in a legal system, the complexity of the Nigerian legal system
could generate some contextual paradoxes. Hence this paper attempts to determine the possible
paradoxes in the context of the Nigerian legal system, that is underpinned by legal pluralism, and
explore the new paradigms.
