National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has opened 13 more state offices to bring human rights protection closer to Nigerian people.
Executive Secretary of the commission, Mr. Tony Ojukwu, disclosed this in Yola, Adamawa State, at a review meeting of a rights protection project being executed in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno by the commission and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
Ojukwu explained that the new offices were opened to take the commission to every state as the commission had offices in 23 states before now.
“Every state now has a state office as against 23 before. This year we established 13, so we have 13 new offices as I talk to you now, so that we can be close to more Nigerians and ensure that their rights are protected,” Ojukwu said.
Ojukwu, who made most of the clarifications during an interaction with newsmen after the opening ceremony of the ‘End of Year Review/Training Meeting of the ‘NHRC/UNHCR IDP/Returnees Protection Monitoring Project,’ said the commission decided to open the new offices despite financial constraints because most of the people the commission serves have limited financial resources and need to be as close as possible to the commission’s offices.
He said the NHRC/UNHCR 2018 IDPs/Returnees Protection Monitoring Project Review in Yola was meant to scrutinise the impact of the project in the course of 2018 in its three coverage states of Adamawa, Yobe and Borno, and to make recommendations to improve the project in 2019.
He said the 2018 IDP Protection Monitoring Project, which commenced in January, was aimed at protecting and promoting human rights and providing humanitarian assistance for IDPs in the three states the project covers.
Ojukwu assured that his commission and other relevant government agencies like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as well as non-governmental organisations were working hard to see that IDPs were not deprived of their right to vote in the 2019 general elections.