The executive secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Tony Ojukwu, has said that the commission has put in place arrangements for the nomination and selection of deserving federal institutions, state government and Civil Society Organisations (CSO) for recognition at the 3rd edition of the National Human Rights Awards coming up in December.
The NHRC boss stated this during a media dialogue on weekend in Abuja.
The awards, he said, are in realisation of the fact that the human rights situation in the country despite the daunting challenges, “can maintain a steady improvement if individuals and organisations are encouraged to do more, by appreciating their efforts in advancing the course of human rights in Nigeria. The commission therefore deems it very crucial to encourage federal government agencies, state governments and civil society organisations to continue to advance the promotion and protection of human rights in Nigeria in order to have better and egalitarian society devoid of all forms of human rights violations and a people imbued with the culture of respect for democratic norms and social justice.”
Ojukwu stated that the awards are in 3 categories: federal government agencies, state governments, and civil society organisations. He added that members of the public are expected to select from the list of nominations through voting for their preferred choices.
He further stated that the indicators for selecting deserving categories for the award include; the degree of accessibility of the MDA services to the public. For state government, it will be on their outstanding performance in the improvement of education, health, housing, payment of worker’s salaries and prompt payment of gratuity and pension. While for CSOs, it is to show work in improving the understanding and respect for human rights in Nigeria amongst others.
