BY IKENNA OGBU / ENUGU
The International Human Rights Investigative (Nigeria), a pro-human rights NGO, has tasked Enugu State Governor-elect, Dr Peter Mbah, on respect for the rule of law and human rights protection in the state.
The National Coordinator of the NGO, Dr Chimbo Obieze, made the call in an address at the maiden Town Hall Meeting on Human Rights Advocacy in Enugu State held on Wednesday in Enugu.
Obieze noted that for respect for the rule of law and human rights to strive in the state, the state government especially “the governor must be intention and purposeful in promoting and directing state policy towards it”.
According to him, the respect for the rule of the law and human rights protection usually promotes good governance and democratic tenets in any state or country.
Obieze, who is also UN International Peace and Governance Council (UN-IPGC) Special Envoy on Sustainable Peace Education to Anambra, said: “the group, International Human Rights Investigative, have come to take advocacy on human rights and rule of law issues to the next level in South-East.
“We want to ensure that people are given their due and people’s rights are respected and not trampled upon any more in the South-East and entire country.
“We will soon unveil the organization and its zonal secretariat in Enugu as well as open a desk office to listen to human rights complaints and actions taken on behalf of the people”.
Speaking, Amb. Amaka Ezedioranma, the Head of Administration and Secretary of the NGO, said that the group would be leveraging the support and cooperation of various NGOs and CSOs to get information and feedback on various human rights issues.
Ezedioranma, who is also UN-IPGC Special Envoy on Humanity, Poverty Alleviation and Social Welfare in Enugu State, said that with experience of the NGO and support of local NGOs negative human rights issues would reduce in the South-East.
The South-East Coordinator of the NGO, Hon Chinelo Ogbata-Ejorh, said that the group would fight the current marginalisation of women, especially widows, in the South-East to a stand-still.
Ogbata-Ejorh, who is also an ambassador of Support Children Education Fund (SCEFUND), said that there was a need for families, clans, villages and communities to jettison various practices against women emancipation and freedom.
“Agreed, we have a lot of human rights issues in the South-East; however, the most unfortunate and painful is what widows are subjected to in some villages and communities in the South-East,” she said.
In a vote of thanks, Hon Uche Chioke, the acting State Chairman of the NGO, and the scecetary Mrs Clara Anionwu appreciated SCEFUND for the sponsorship of the town hall meeting as well as NGOs and Community Based Organisations (CBOs) that attended the meeting.
Over 86 participants drawn from 24 NGOs domiciled within the South-East attended the town hall meeting.
It featured visual presentations and lectures on various human rights issues as it affected women, children and the physically challenged in the South-East.
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