Dr Anthony Ojukwu, SAN, the Executive Secretary (ES) of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has expressed concern over the state of human rights in Nigeria.
Speaking during the Second Edition of the commission’s dashboard data presentation on Wednesday, Ojukwu said the monthly dashboard on the state of human rights was borne out of the necessity by the Commission to monitor, investigate and report on human rights systematically on a national scale in line with its mandate.
” The dashboard is a unique and distinctive initiative of the commission that presents to us an infographic report on where we stand on human rights in our country on a monthly basis to enable all actors to monitor the trend of human rights and to be able to take steps in addressing same.
” The commission is concerned over the state of human rights in Nigeria especially the impact of economic reforms on the enjoyment of human rights by Nigerians.
” Images and videos of citizens breaking into warehouses and trucks conveying food stuffs do not only portend dangers on the rule of law but clearly shows a clear violation of the right to dignity of the human person guaranteed by our Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’s Rights” he said.
According to him, the dashboard is is a graphic representation of the state of human rights in the country.
He added beyond being indicting, it rather presents itself as a guide and a measurement of our progress to realising the human rights of every Nigerian.
Ojukwu said the commission has the onerous task under its establishment Act to present a report on the state of human rights in Nigeria.
“We have been rendering this report to the National Assembly and the Government of Nigeria on an annual basis and the document has been a reference material accessible to all interested persons and authorities to gain insight on the status of human rights in Nigeria.
” Every driver understands the importance of a dashboard to the vehicle and we all know that it is important for a driver to take a look at his dashboard at intervals to be able to assess the state of his vehicle while on a journey.
” Once there is a signal or indicator light on, the driver will have a sense of the state of that vehicle at that particular point in time without having to open the bonnet to check the engine” he said.
The ES added the areas with high prevalence of violations to enable us act circumspectly in effectively addressing the human right issues identified.
” The monthly dashboard on the state of human rights in Nigeria presents facts, statistics and analysis of human rights violations across broad and specific thematic areas for policy makers, security and law enforcement agencies, civil society and the media to respond to the myriads of human rights violations in Nigeria.
” Ladies and gentlemen, Nigeria is facing social and economic challenges which no doubt impact on our enjoyment of human rights today.
” The January dashboard which we presented last month revealed some interesting facts about the prevalence of domestic violence which had the highest percentage.
” The Feb. dashboard which will be presented to us shortly will reveal some interesting dimensional shift of violations revealing another category of victims who are worst hit by the data generated for the month” he said.
