ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has assured members of the public, as well as the local and international human rights bodies that the Nigerian Army under his leadership would investigate all human rights complaints brought before it.
To this end, Buratai has in a first of its kind within the military establishment, commissioned Human Rights Desk office under the Department of Civil-Military Relations.
The army chief, who was represented by the Chief of Civil-Military Affairs (CCMA) Maj-Gen. Rogers Nicholas, at the commissioning of the Desk on Thursday, said that the event marked another important day in the history of Nigerian Army “by establishing the human rights office”.
He noted that the establishment of the desk office was borne out of the increasing interest of the local and international human rights bodies on what we are doing in the North East and other parts of the country.
He also noted that the Nigerian Army was trying to open up the system and close the gap with the civil populace, human rights bodies and civil society organisations.
“The nature of inquiries and commentaries from requires a response of professional and specialised in nature by the NA. What we are witnessing today has been facilitated by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC),” he said.
Speaking further, Buratai listed the functions of the newly established human rights desk under the supervision of the CCMA and as well as input from the Provost Marshal’s office to include receiving documents, investigate complaints from individuals, organisations and institution on rights violation involving NA personnel.
“They are also to make their findings to the COAS on human rights complaints in the country; produce annual reports; review, update existing training manual; facilitate participation of NA officers in local/international training programme,” he said.
Buratai further listed other functions of the desk including liaising and facilitating interaction with the human rights organisations; strategise and strengthen capacity of the NA in promoting human rights; and as well as developing a network of contacts of human rights offices in Nigeria.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary, NHRC, Mr. Ben Angwe, commended the NA for what he described as a novel and bold initiative.
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]Angwe, who was represented by a Director at the NHRC, Mr. Saka Azimazi, said that by the NA has set a commendable precedence for other Services of the armed forces.
“My plea is that the office remains open for enquiries and with this the Nigerian Army will remain close to the civil populace. We also ask for technical and logistic assistance be given to the desk to operate effectively,” he said.
In the same vein the Senior Human Rights Adviser to the United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator and UN Country Team in Nigeria, Mr. Martin Ejidike, commended the initiative of the NA
“This is Nigerian Army is setting important precedence for the human rights work in Nigeria. This will create a context of engagement and information exchange between the CSOs and the NA. The NA has done a commendable work for improved human rights records. We want to extend the support of the UN system and to furnish you with technical support to the desk,” Ejidike assured.
While fielding questions, Gen. Nicholas assured that the Desk would be open to all segments of the society who have issues of human rights complaints.
He called on anybody who have such complaints to either write to the office, register the complaints in person, or direct such through email and text messages.
He said: “Let me start by acknowledging the efforts of the COAS who brought the idea of establishing the desk. We want to plead to you to send your complaints to this desk and also plead with the media to investigate well before you go to the press.
“Your complaints can be filed through writing and addressed to our office, you can also come directly to our office to file your complaints to our email addresses and phone numbers. The email can be sent to: ahq.dcma@army.mil.ng, and text messages to 08034036936, 08030767294.”
“We open our doors for collaboration, and we have number of officers that are trained in CMR. We have three military officers that are lawyers and vast in the issue of human rights. Its a combination of military and civilians
“Be rest assured that transparency is the order of the day and that’s why we are throwing our door open and accessibility to annual human rights report. We are also planning to open office outside the AHQ to a more accessible and central locations in town,” he added.
The CCMA, also assured to strengthen and deepen a sustainable Civil-Military Relations, especially between the NA and the civil populace.
