Nigerian govt violating citizens’ rights with absence of infrastructure – Group
11 December 2022 |
3:07 am
International Human Right Commission (IHRC) has described the inability of the Federal Government to provide Nigerians with basic infrastructure as an infringement on the fundamental human rights of the citizens.
International Human Right Commission (IHRC) has described the inability of the Federal Government to provide Nigerians with basic infrastructure as an infringement on the fundamental human rights of the citizens.
The organisation also stressed the need for government to embrace dialogue as a solution to the security challenges facing the country.
Ambassador at Large and Head of Diplomatic Missions in Nigeria, Dr. Duru Hezekiah, stated this at the commemoration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on the occasion of International Human Rights Day in Abuja, yesterday.
He noted that a baseline study on the Human Rights Impacts and Implications of Mega-Infrastructure Investment by the United Nations in 2017 reveals that the lack of infrastructure development by leaders for their citizens is an infringement on human rights.
Also referencing the African Development Bank, Hezekiah said a country’s infrastructure expenditure should be six per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at the minimum to attain a reasonable level of sustainable development.
“However, over the past decade, Nigeria’s infrastructure spending has been less than five per cent of GDP and much lower than the amount committed by other developing countries. With such a gap, it has become difficult for the Nigerian government to adequately address the country’s infrastructure needs,” he stated.
This, according to him, in no small measure impedes the rights of citizens to their basic enjoyment.
Speaking, a human rights lawyer and Executive Director of Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights (CASER), Frank Tietie, observed that there is a disparity between the provisions of the law as to the kind of human rights Nigerians should enjoy and what they actually enjoy.
According to him, Nigerians are deprived largely of their basic human rights, especially with regard to the right to life occasioned by insecurity in most parts of the north.
Noting that the country is currently under siege, the legal practitioner maintained that the issue of human rights violations in the country is more systemic than administrative.
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