In a bid to carry out its mandate of periodic audit of places of detention across Nigeria, and to ensure that practices in those places conform with human rights standards, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) with the support from MacArthur foundation has trained visitors on the use of the checklist for the Police Station Visitors Week (PSVW).
Declaring the training open on Wednesday in Abuja, Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Tony Ojukwu SAN said the programme was aimed at enhancing police accountability, identifying good practices and documenting challenges that may exist, with the view to making recommendations to appropriate authorities for improvement in respect for human rights.
He said the training, which is part of a larger project on strengthening Police Reform in Nigeria was funded by MacArthur foundation and implemented by the NHRC, in collaboration with the office of the Vice President, CLEEN foundation, Network for Police Reforms (NOPRIN), and the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC).
“I welcome you all to this training programme for visitors who will be participating in the Police Station Visitors Week (PSVW), scheduled to take place from 21st to 25th February, 2022”.
He explained that the police stations were selected based on geographical spread, saying it will cover one state per geo-political zone and Abuja.
“The selected states are; Sokoto (NW), Bauchi (NE), Benue (NC), Oyo (SW), Imo (SE), Edo (SS) and FCT”.
Continuing, Ojukwu said “in each of these states, 6 police stations will be identified and visited in collaboration with the NHRC state offices and other stakeholders at the state level”.
He maintained that the audit exercises are not meant to witch-hunt any one or any institution “but aimed at ensuring that human rights are promoted and protected, including the rights of persons in detention”.
Consequently, he assured the readiness of the police authority to cooperate with the commission during the exercises.
He however urged participants in the audit exercise to ensure that they engage actively with the preparation process and discuss all possible issues and challenges so that the field work would be smooth and hitch-free.
He said “As you can see, resources have been expended to put this training together, especially to bring those of you from the six selected states to Abuja for the training”.
“You need to ensure that these resources are not wasted and that you are very conversant with the checklist, which is the tool that will be used for data collection” Ojukwu added.
Meanwhile, in a goodwill message, the Acting Executive Secretary, CLEEN foundation, Mrs. Ruth Olofin stressed the significance of the training, saying it was a national duty at improving policing in Nigeria.
She observed that it was a watershed in policing in Nigeria, and urged participants to see the training with all importance and a lunch pad.
“You don’t reform the police in isolation” Olofin added.
Also speaking, Mrs Josephine Alabi of the NOPRIN applauded the efforts of NHRC, MacArthur foundation, CLEEN foundation and other stakeholders for the training.
Similarly, Project Coordinator and Director of Human Rights Institute, Mrs. Ifeoma Wakama told participants that one of the objective of the training was for them to be conversant with the tools for data collection in the field.
“You will meet different persons with different temperament” she told the participants.
