On the occasion of World\u2019s Human Rights Day, December 10, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre has launched its 2022 Nigeria Annual Human Rights Report. At the launch, PLAC\u2019s Executive Director, Clement Nwankwo raised concern that Nigeria is off course and drifting away from its responsibilities and respect for human rights as enshrined in the Constitution and international treaty obligations.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According\nto PLAC, not only has the country failed to protect a vast majority of its\ncitizens from the erosion of their basic and fundamental rights, the government\nwas often found complicit in actions that deny rather than enhance those\nrights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One key\nfinding made in the report is that Nigeria is going through serious economic\ndifficulties which formed the backdrop, or often provided the impetus for many\nof the rights violations that happen in the country. In the midst of severe\neconomic difficulties, the ideal conditions for meeting the most basic of\nrights are non-existent. The fact that the country is at the same time going\nthrough a political transition amid plunging revenues makes the situation even\nmore precarious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The result\nhas been a worsening of social tensions, a further escalation of a\nlong-simmering grazing conflict that follows ethnic and religious fault lines,\nleading to the emergence of insurgent and secessionist groups in different\nparts of the country. It is against this background that much of the violations\nof human rights unfolded in Nigeria in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The biggest\ndangers to the fundamental rights of Nigerians have come in the forms of\nthreats to life, personal liberty, human dignity, the rights to private\nproperty and family life. These have come mostly from a failure of the State to\nensure the welfare of its citizens, which is one of the fundamental objectives\nof government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These\nrights have been outrageously violated during the period under review in the\nincidents of kidnapping for ransom, heinous killings, various communal\nconflicts, insurgencies and secessionist movements. These violations, by mostly\nnon-state actors, take place largely because the State has failed the citizens\nthrough its inability to guarantee as well as maintain law and order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PLAC recommended\na change in attitude where the government sees itself as the prime defender of\nhuman rights rather than their prime violator. This it can do be adhering to\nthe rule of law in all its conduct and avoiding the current appearance of\nselective application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The state\nof the economy will inevitably affect the state of human rights. The government\nneeds to improve its economic management, given that the welfare of the people\nis the primary responsibility of government. PLAC stated that there is an\nurgent need to tackle the grazing conflict sweeping the country as it is directly\nimplicated in food shortages and their rising costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According\nto PLAC, government should redouble efforts to tackle pervasive insecurity in\nthe country and reassert its control over the country\u2019s territory, the report\nsaid. PLAC called on the authorities to launch investigations into allegations\nthat some members of the security forces are showing partisanship to some sides\nin the grazing conflict, to nip such practices in bud, if true, and boost the\ncitizens\u2019 trust in the armed forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PLAC also\ncalled on the government to take steps to ensure that States that make laws\nthat are in violation of the Constitution are called to order and asked to\nreverse course, given that the Federal Government is the custodian of our\nconstitutional order, with the president and the governors swearing an oath to\nabide by the Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n