The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC has said that it can now track incidences of human rights abuse whenever and wherever it happens in Nigeria.

Dr. Anthony Ojukwu, SAN, the Executive Secretary/CEO of the Commission, revealed this in an exclusive interview with the Editorial Team of African Leadership Scorecard Magazine/Nationwide Reports, led by the Publisher/Editor-In-Chief, Mr. Bonaventure Phillips Melah at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

Ojukwu who holds the national honour of Officer of the Niger, OFR, said the fight against human rights abuse has been revolutionized and attributed the development to the adoption of several policy mechanisms, including the use of modern technology by his management.

He therefore warned that anybody dealing with his fellow citizen should treat them with dignity as officers of the Commission are working day and night to ensure that rights abusers, perpetrators of violence, especially against civilians are brought to book.

The Chief Human Rights Officer in Nigeria, thanked the federal government and international partners of the Commission for providing legislative and other supports for the organization to carry out its statutory functions.

Ojukwu stated that the setting up of NHRC offices across all the states of the federation, has contributed immensely to the successes achieved by the Commission so far, adding that efforts are being made to establish offices in all the 774 local governments in the country to make it easier for citizens living in the hinterlands to access the agency on time to report abuses like domestic violence, rape and forced marriage, obnoxious traditional practices and child abuse, among others.

He said- “A- If you look at where we are coming from, a situation where we did not have any state office and you can imagine if there is no state office in any state, you cannot think of doing anything. Now, we have been able establish offices at the state level. With the presence of our offices there, it has led to an increased level of sensitisation and awareness at the grassroots.

“They may not have all that is required to work, for instance, vehicles to be up and doing at the local government level but we will get there. So, yes, you can say the states offices need to do more but you can also see that the presence of the state offices has really improved the capacity of the Commission in the entire country. You will recall during the sixteen days of activism the whole state offices of the Commission were on the street. That’s a lot. Creating awareness, visiting traditional rulers, religious institutions, legislators, offices of governors and wives of the governors, states chief judges’ etc. and also working with the civil societies as well as the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA to create awareness around these issues.

“We also visit the prison and police cells in all the states on monthly basis. That was not possible when we were not in all the states because we would have led our team leaving from here to visit the states. Now we have resident offices in all the states that visit the police detention centres and the prisons on monthly basis. So, yes, maybe we are not able to be in all the market places to see the women, motor parks or embark on town hall meetings in all the local government areas, but I believe that we are making impact at the state level.”

More to follow…..