CLEEN foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) organised an accountbility forum on civilian millitary relations in Nigeria in collaboration with National Human Rights Commission and Institute for Peace and Conflicts Resolution.
The themed of the forum is “Strengthening Civil-Military Relations, Accountability and Human Rights in Nigeria”.
In a paper presentation at the forum, a senior lecturer with the Political Science Department, University of Nigeria, Nsukka,Dr. Freedom Osuoha, called on the military, civil society organisations and government institutions to uphold human rights principles and practice in the discharge of their duties.
Osuoha urged the military to be accountable to the rule of law by providing assistance to civil authorities in times of emergencies.
In his words: “For the military, they are to assist the police and other agencies to maintain law and order and also be accountable to the rule of law.
“For civil society organisations, they must show mutual respect to security forces and engage them on dialogues to clear area of concerns.
“For the executive, legislature and the judiciary, they should develop mechanisms to ensure accountability in security forces and also check abuses by state security forces,” he said.
He further recommended the establishment of an independent inter-agency committee to foster credibility and accountability amongst stakeholders in the discharge of their duties.
Also, the Millitary Warrant Officer, Lawyer /Investigator from the Nigeria Army Human Rights, Juliana Aboki explained that the military has a 24 hours call centre established to receive all nature of emergency calls whether military or civil.
She said soldiers whose rights have been violated can also call to lodge their complaints adding that the designated short code is 193.
She said the desk had received over 350 complaints since inception adding that these complaints ranged from alleged humanity rights violations to the percentages of crimes and violations was shown at Annex.
