UN asks Nigeria to finish loss of life penalty, rights violations

The United Nations has urged the Nigerian authorities to abolish the loss of life penalty.

Presently, Nigeria’s correctional centres have 3,413 inmates on loss of life row, Abubakar Umar, spokesperson for the Nigerian Correctional Companies, stated final December.

Member States of the worldwide physique referred to as for a right away moratorium on the loss of life penalty pending its abolition from Nigeria’s felony justice system.

The calls had been made on Tuesday on the Common Periodic Evaluation (UPR) of Nigeria in Geneva, Switzerland.

Nigeria’s delegation led by the Lawyer Common of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, is presently in Geneva for the UPR, which occurs each 4 to 5 years.

The UPR is a novel mechanism of the Human Rights Council that requires every UN Member State to endure a peer evaluation of its human rights data each 4.5 years.

Whereas presenting Nigeria’s report of its human rights efforts, Mr Fagbemi reeled out a plethora of legal guidelines and insurance policies enacted by the federal government to curb rights abuses.

“Nigeria has enacted a number of legislations such because the Administration of Felony Justice Act (2015), the Youngster Rights Act, and Anti-Torture Act amongst others to safeguard the rights of Nigerians,” the justice minister stated, whereas being flanked by the Solicitor-Common of the Federation and Everlasting Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Beatrice Jeddy-Agba.

A PREMIUM TIMES reporter was on the UN Home in Abuja on Tuesday and monitored the Geneva proceedings of Nigeria’s presentation of its human rights standing to the UN Human Rights Council.

Nigeria’s human rights report

The Lawyer Common stated Nigeria’s quest for an improved human rights report led to the strengthening of public establishments to make sure accountability within the occasion of violations.

Mr Fagbemi defined that the nation had taken steps to “promote and shield the enjoyment of elementary human rights of Nigerians.”

“Nigeria stays dedicated to the promotion of the rule of legislation and obedience to court docket selections. Nigeria has designated the Nationwide Human Rights Fee (NHRC) because the impartial Nationa Preventive Mechanism in opposition to torture,” the AGF stated.

He added that the Youngster Rights Act is now domesticated throughout the 36 states of Nigeria, whereas the Violence In opposition to Individuals Prohibition Act is already adopted in lots of States throughout the nation.

Talking additional on different areas of rights enforcement, the minister famous that the federal government arrange investigative panels following protests over police brutality in Nigeria in 2020, with outcomes of the probe resulting in fee of compensations to victims of violations.

On the Nigerian delegation are Wale Fapohunda, a former Lawyer-Common of Ekiti State; Olumide Osoba, a member of the Home of Representatives and Chairman, Home Committee on Justice; Abdulrahman Yukubu, a director on the Nationwide Human Rights Fee; and the Solicitor-Common of the Federation, Ms Jeddy-Agba.

They took turns to current Nigeria’s report of its implementation of human rights mechanisms, which had been beforehand advisable by the UN Human Rights Council.

Nigeria was final reviewed by the 193-member physique in 2018 when it made far-reaching suggestions aimed toward bolstering the nation’s human rights standing.

Nonetheless, the Nigerian authorities’s claims of its accomplishments within the “safety and promotion of Nigerians rights” are at variance with sensible points within the nation.

Angela Uzoma-Nwandu, the nation director of Avocats Sans Frontieres (ASF) in Nigeria, stated “Insurance policies and laws are pretty much as good as their implementation.”

Ms Uzoma-Nwandu added coverage implementation would assure the realisation of human rights in Nigeria.

She famous that it was time for Nigeria to abrogate the loss of life penalty as a result of it violates the correct to life.

Problems with arbitrary arrests and detention, press freedom, torture, shrinking of civic area and spiritual intolerance proceed to plague Nigerians.

As an illustration, Deborah Samuel, an undergraduate was gruesomely murdered in Sokoto State, north-west Nigeria in 2022. The federal government promised to carry the perpetrators of the dastardly act to justice, nevertheless it reneged on it.

Sexual and Gender-Based mostly Violence incidents are rampant with many perpetrators going scot-free.

Final November, Amnesty Worldwide urged President Bola Tinubu to “make human rights safety its precedence by making certain that each Nigerian’s rights are protected and that perpetrators of rights breaches don’t go unpunished.”

It accused President Tinubu of failing in his duty to uphold the rights of Nigerians owing to widespread violent crimes and poverty.

Ghana, Togo, US, Canada others urge Nigeria on rights safety

Of their separate evaluation of Nigeria’s human rights data, West African nations like Ghana, Togo, and Gabon urged the federal government to finish the loss of life penalty and sort out gender-based violence.

Different African nations of their broad evaluation of assorted rights points, advisable the strengthening of public establishments to ship on qualitative healthcare and schooling for Nigerians.

The USA and Canada expressed their issues about Nigeria’s human rights circumstances, calling for the complete implementation of suggestions by the EndSARS panels.

They stated the Nigerian authorities should prioritise the prosecution and punishment of legislation enforcement officers indicted for rights breaches.

Additionally they urged Nigeria to decriminalise same-sex marriage. The offence carries a 14-year jail time period.

However in his response to the difficulty of LGBTQ, the justice minister stated Nigeria’s legal guidelines are a mirrored image of the nation’s cultural background.

Talking additional, Mr Fagbemi stated Nigeria had begun commuting the loss of life penalty to life imprisonment according to the correctional providers legislation.

Nigeria final had its loss of life sentence execution in 2016 in Edo State, South-south Nigeria.

Adwoa Kufuor, senior human rights adviser on the UN in Abuja, advised PREMIUM TIMES that the worldwide physique would collaborate with the Nigerian authorities in assembly its obligations by way of human rights safety.

Ms Kufuor itemised key thematic rights points upon which Nigeria was reviewed together with – the loss of life penalty, girls’s empowerment, SGVB, qualitative schooling, common well being protection, and rights of the aged, amongst others.

The ambassador of Belgium to Nigeria, Pieter Leenknegt, was on the UN Home in Abuja, from the place he watched the Geneva proceedings on Nigeria.

He famous the observations and suggestions of UN Member States to Nigeria on LGBTQS and social safety.