…Pays an oversight visit, Promises to increase NHRC 2025 budget
By Chibuike Nwabuko
ABUJA, NIGERIA – Nigerian would soon heave a sigh of relief as the House of Representatives is working towards the passage of the Human Rights Defenders Bill into law, having informed that it has already passed the first reading and will soon be subjected to the second reading.
This is coming as the House promises to take the necessary steps to ensure an improvement in the 2025 budget of the NHRC pointing out that the N5 billion approved for it in the 2024 budget is inadequate considering the myriad of human rights violations in the country.The Chairman House Committee on Human Rights, Hon. Abiola Makinde who made this disclosure during the oversight visit of Committee to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) observed.
The Chairman who was represented at the occasion by his Deputy, Hon. Mudashiru Lukeman assured the NHRC that the Committee would continue to advance the course of human rights in Nigeria by ensuring that the House of Representatives passes critical Bills on human rights issues as well as makes adequate budgetary provisions to ease the work of the Commission.
Besides, the Hon. Makinde stated in a bid to improve some aspects of Civil and Political Rights, the House of Representatives had ensured the establishment of human rights desks in all police formations and Headquarters across the 36 States of the Federation.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Dr. Tony Ojukwu OFR, SAN who received the lawmakers with his management staff told the Human Rights Committee that the Commission relies heavily on them for the enactment of human rights friendly laws and enhanced budgetary provisions to discharge it broad mandate of promotion, protection and enforcement of human rights in the country.
The learned Silk used the opportunity to commend the legislators for their role in the amendment of the NHRC Act 2010 as well as the support of the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila in the payment of compensation to victims of human rights violations by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) unit of the Nigeria Police Force.
In the same vein, he informed the legislators who were on oversight visit about the recent report released by the Commission following the findings of the Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in Counter-Insurgency Operations in the North East Nigeria , which he noted has saved the country from possible invitation by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
He noted that the aforementioned wide spread allegations of human rights infractions against some government institutions could result in the ICC extending invitations to some of the leaders to respond to the allegations, but the Commission has done the needful in compliance with the international principles of complementarity.
Finally, he thanked the Committee for promising to improve the budgetary allocation of the Commission in the 2025 fiscal year.
