REPORTER: NDU CHRIS NWANNAH
Participants in the presentation of reports by the Amnesty International Nigeria, AIN on Human Rights Violations and Accountability in the South- East geopolitical zone, have called on stakeholders in the security sector to prioritize the effective policing of all classes of citizens.
They made the call at an event organized to present the reports in Awka, Anambra State, which documented that over 5,000 people were unlawfully killed in the South- East by security agencies between 2021 and 2025.
The reports were tagged, “A decade of Impunity: Attacks and Unlawful Killings in South- East Nigeria and Tiger Base of Atrocities: Human Rights Violations by the Nigeria Police Anti- Kidnapping Unit in Owerri.”
One of the participants and Professor of Political Science, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Chukwuemeka Jaja Nwanegbo, said there was the need for the governance system to consciously improve the security of lives and property of individuals in society.
Professor Nwanegbo, who is the Director of Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution, Unizik, insisted that for the citizens to be safe, efforts must be geared toward the effective policing of all classes of citizens.
The Head, South East Zonal Office, Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution, Princess Amaka Uzodinma, noted that all culprits, involved in human rights violations in the country must be brought to book, to serve as a deterrent to those intending to engage in the act.
Contributing, the Executive Director, Social and Integral Development Centre, SIDEC, Mrs Ugochi Ehiahuruike, noted that there was the need to continuously train and retrain security personnel in the country, to guard against wanton killings and violations of people’s rights.
In his submissions, the Coordinator, Recover Nigeria Project, Comrade Osita Obi, called for civil disobedience from citizens, while urging government to invest heavily in the nation’s security architecture.
The Director of National Orientation Agency, NOA, in Anambra State, Mrs Ifeoma Chijioke, emphasized the need to revive the national value system in schools and communities to curb the incessant violations of rights of citizens.
In a message, the Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Doctor Ekene Oguguo, urged for effective enlightenment on the dangers of abuse of human rights to national development.
