NHRC boss urges new ministers to ensure protection of human rights in govt. policies
By Punarimam Fehintola
Mr Tony Ojukwu, Executive Secretary (ES) of National Human Rights Commission, on Wednesday in Abuja, urged incoming ministers to mainstream human rights in development policies of government.
Ojukwu who made the call while addressing newsmen in Abuja said “the legitimacy of the government in a democratic setting depended on its ability to protect the people, respect their rights and promote same.
” Therefore every organ of government must work towards and align all their operations towards promoting, respecting and protecting the rights of citizens,” he said.
” Mainstreaming human rights into government operations can be achieved through participation, involvement of the people in the formulation and implementation of government programmes, policies and activities.
” Accountability in implementing the programmes, policies, activities and ensuring that people benefit from the implementation” Ojukwu added.
He further stressed that the incoming ministers should ensure gender equality and non-discrimination in the programmes, policies and activities.
Ojukwu said that important avenue of mainstreaming human rights into government operations was through policy intervention which had been encapsulated into a policy document called the National Action Plan for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Nigeria (NAP)
According to him, there were various positive expected outcomes of mainstreaming human rights into government operations by the incoming ministers .
” The government will be seen as a people’s centred government, the Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs) will be achieved to the credit of the government of the day.
” Insecurity will be highly reduced and high cost of governance in the security sector will be reduced and funds will be available for channeling to other areas of need in national development.
” There will be increased foreign direct investments in Nigeria and the fight against security will be strengthened and made sustainable through the culture of accountability embedded in the human rights based approach,” the ES said.
On the other hand, the executive secretary Mr. Tony Ojukwu and his team, visited the Legal Aid Council (LAC) to collaborate in the area of decongesting prisons on behalf of the less privileged and the poor that may have suffered injustice.
In response, the Director General of legal aid council Mallam Abubakar Bagudu Aliyu said the visit was a timely one, adding that the Federal Government recently signed the Bill which is more focused on correcting offenders than punishing them.
“Our activities are interwoven in so many areas and our duty is to defend those that lack legal representation and poor persons in the society. 70% of the people in the prisons have no business being there, and that is why we will need to compel ourselves to do what the law empowers us to do,” he added..
He further said on the part of LAC they will continue to seek justice for the indigent in the society especially through mediation and other legal services.
