The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Human Rights, Ms Beni Lar, in this interview with JUDE OWUAMANAM, comments on human right abuse among other issues
What is your assessment of human right abuse in the country?
Nigeria as a nation has done a lot to
improve its records on human rights. The first thing we did at the
National Assembly is to comply with the United Nations’ declaration to
give financial autonomy to and make the National Human Rights Commission
functional. We succeeded in amending the Act establishing the
commission to ensure that it has full prosecutorial powers in line with
the statutory objectives establishing it. We also had cause to
strengthen it in the sense that all the regulations are binding enough
and admissible in the court of law. So, if you have a case of human
rights violation and you report it to the commission, they will
investigate and whatever findings they come up with can be used in a
court of competent jurisdiction. We did this to reduce the congestion in
our prisons, especially prisoners awaiting trial. This is because about
80 per cent of the people in our prisons are those awaiting trial. Some
people are in prison not because they are guilty, but because their
cases have not even been heard by the judges. So, the judicial system
needs very strict reforms and that is why this audit is very important.
The result has been published and presented to the public and what we
will do now is to urge the chief judges of states to ensure that all
those who have served their sentences and are still awaiting trial to
have their sentences reduced or be released. It is the same thing that
the Chief Judge of Lagos State is doing. If you spend two years for
instance awaiting trial and your offence would ordinarily attract a year
or less than two years’ sentence, you are made to sign a bond to be of
good conduct and automatically released.
Another thing we have just done in the
National Assembly is to amend the Act establishing the National Agency
for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons. Human trafficking has been a
huge problem in Nigeria. Nigeria is a country that transits and also a
destination point. We looked at the laws setting up NAPTIP and we
discovered that the punishment in the existing law is too light. It gave
the judge an option of fine of about N100,000. You know trafficking is a
multi-billion naira industry, so what is N100,000 for an offender? Many
of them would just pay the fine and gain their freedom. But for now, we
have taken away that option because we want to ensure that human
trafficking is stamped out.
I must say that the key challenges in
the enforcement of human rights in Nigeria are the unlawful killings
generally, kidnappings, armed robbery, insurgency, terrorism and so on.
These things have been documented by the UN as gross human rights
violation. Nigerians in all parts of the country must understand that
life is precious and sacred. The constitution recognises that everybody
has a right to life; nobody has the right to take another person’s life.
In the constitution amendment, we have included right to health,
education and other social amenities. Provision of basic healthcare
should not only be the responsibility of the Federal Government. But
state and local governments have a role to play. We have to ensure that
the quality and standard of life of the citizens is another right that
should be applicable to every Nigerian.
In essence, what you are saying is
that what the International Human Rights Organisation used as
yardsticks are these killings either by way of kidnap, armed robbery and
insurgency. But these are issues of institutional violation of human
rights either by government agencies or other private organisations?
What I am saying is that those cases are
minimal, compared with the broader picture where people take lives of
innocent citizens, whether on the roads, in the villages, through
kidnapping and armed robbery or through terrorism. Be it whatever, those
are the biggest violations. The other ones are not as critical because
the critical ones take away lives, which is the fundamental of the human
rights abuses. There is no nation without human rights abuses,
absolutely none. Even the United States of America, Europe, everywhere.
But the ability to minimise it and have institutional structures is what
matters.
Nigeria has come under pressure
from the international community to pass the Gay Rights law. Do you see
the non-recognition of gay rights as an infringement on the rights of
some Nigerians?
Nigeria has a culture and a rich one at
that. So, our laws are basically in line with that culture. Just as
Nigerians are saying that you cannot impose other people’s norms and
cultures on them, similarly we cannot impose our culture on other
people. So, definitely, Nigeria as a sovereign nation cannot allow other
people to impose their alien norms and cultures on the nation.
Well, if you agree that
mal-administration is also a human rights violation, how will you rate
the Jang administration in Plateau State in terms of delivering the
dividends of democracy?
I would say that Governor Jonah Jang has
been, probably to me, one of the best performing governors because if
you look at the infrastructural development taking place in Plateau
State, especially the road networks and other amenities that were not
there before, you can’t help but admit that he’s performing. We have
flyovers now in Jos and some are still under construction and every time
I come to Jos, I see massive constructions going on. Whoever the next
governor of Plateau State would be, I pray he or she will continue in
this fashion and even build more because the state needs this kind of
spirit in order to develop. Once the state and the activities thereof
are commercialised, you will find people getting more involved in the
activities of the state. This will also reduce the pressure on the
government.
What is the record of Plateau State in the implementation of Child Rights and women empowerment?
The record of the state in child rights
and women empowerment has been encouraging. Recently, at a conference in
Abuja, we realised that care for children in the state, especially the
less privileged ones and those orphaned by HIV/AIDS, have been taken
with all sense of seriousness. The women too seem to be very active in
politics in the state and they have been given an atmosphere conducive
for them to excel in their chosen endeavours. The issues of education
and enrolment of children in schools are also being attended in the
state. The issue of children out of school seems also not to be a
problem in the state as you find in other northern states of Nigeria.
Despite your position, Plateau State is still ranked among the least in terms of educational performance.
Yes, unfortunately, that is true but I
think the recent development and improvement in the sector in Plateau
State will go a long way in addressing the situation. I am convinced
that what the government is doing, especially in the recruitment of
qualified teachers and the improvement of the learning environment, are
the right steps in the right direction. It will interest you to also
know that what we are planning to do is to amend the Universal Basic
Education Act to provide one free meal a day to every child in the
school, from primary one to six. This will help in their growth and
nutrition thereby helping them to make learning interesting. This should
extend to the rural areas as well. It has already gone through the
first reading, I guess.
Do you think Nigeria is ripe for a social security scheme for its citizens?
I think Nigeria is ripe for a social
insurance scheme. The only challenge we have at the moment is that we
have about 50 different institutions providing various forms of social
insurance. So, what we need to do is to compress everything to one. We
have bodies like the National Directorate of Employment that provides
not really a form of social security, but trains the youth and supports
them to establish themselves. I think the Industrial Training Fund too
does the same thing and so many other similar organisations. That is
just one, and that too is training but we have others that are
responsible for the provision of some welfare, if I am to put it that
way. But what we need is to synchronise them into one for efficiency.
What I understand, however, is that the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust
Fund, the key body that is responsible for this, does not have a clear
policy. Nigerians need a clearly defined policy on social insurance so
that those that are not employed, at least, for the first two or three
years of graduation or of their employment, are taken care of
adequately.
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