The Cleen Foundation has tasked the Nigerian Police and other law enforcement agencies on human rights protection to strengthen public trust and confidence.
The Programme Manager of the foundation, Mrs. Chigozirim Okoro, made the call on Tuesday in Abuja at a ‘Capacity Building Workshop for Police Oversight Agencies on Human Rights Documentation and Management’.
- Use Ekiti gov’ship security template for 2023 polls – Cleen Foundation
- Why insecurity persist in communities -Cleen Foundation
According to her, the selected senior police officers across the 36 states of the federation and FCT were being trained as part of measures to strengthen the practice among security personnel.
Others who also benefitted from the training are desk officers from the Police Service Commission (PSC), National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Public Complaints Commission (PCC).
Mrs. Okoro, who decried the rate of human rights violation in the country as worrisome, said that the Cleen Foundation intended to see an improvement in reporting cases of human rights complaints against violators.
She said, “We would be glad to see careful documentation of cases of human rights violation and follow-up action on them. We want to see more advocacy and other kind of measures that will bring violators of human rights to book.
“This particular training is crucial and is one of such trainings organized by Cleen Foundation since the EndSARS protest, the protest happened due to alleged violation of human rights by law enforcement personnel. For us under this project, what we intend to achieve is to ensure that we enhance the capacity of human rights desk officers across the country in their service delivery.
She also said that the Cleen Foundation had established human rights hub, known as Human Rights Information Management System (HRIMS), domiciled at the National Human Rights Commission.
She added that part of what was expected of all the agencies who took part in the training is to actually learn how to use the hub on their day-to-day communication in management of human rights issues.
On his part, the Commissioner, Human Rights, PSC, Mr. Rommy Mom, said the country must avoid the repeat of Endsars protest and work towards the promotion of human rights.
According to him, most Nigerians failed to learn from the Endsars protest which was a great lesson that expressed pure violation of human rights from the law enforcement officers.
“But it is unfortunate that we did not take the full advantage of the lessons of what Endsars brought. It made us to realize potential for young persons in the country. The potential for them to work with the police, the potential for them to cooperate with the police.
“If you remember what happened during the Endsars, you saw young people on the street demonstrating to carry out their constitutional mandate. At the same time, these young Nigerians who are protesting, were sharing food and sharing water with the police, they were together and everything was working on fine till hoodlums came in and infiltrated the protest.
“What that tells us is that young persons in the country are not really against the law or the police, but they are just there trying to see that the country takes care of them and give them what they deserve,” he said.
However, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), from the Force Criminal Investigate Department (FCID), Mr. Ben Kalio, denied some of the accusations on Nigerian Police.
He said that some of the accusations on the police were mainly allegations and a blackmail to smear the organisation into a state of discredit.
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
