11th April, 2017
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), on Tuesday in Abuja, presented to the public its Complaint Treatment Procedure Manual to ensure uniform standards in the handling of complaints on human rights abuses.
The Acting Executive Secretary of NHRC, Mrs Oti Ovrawah, said that increased visibility of the commission across the country led to an increase in the volume of complaints received by the commission on daily basis.
She said this made it pertinent for the commission to reposition its capacity to handle the inflow of complaints and bring respite to the people whose rights were violated.
According to her, the security situation in the country as well as conflict of different dimensions challenged the capacity of the commission’s complaints mandate.
Oti, however, said that the Swiss Embassy came to the commission’s rescue by providing support to develop a new complaints treatment procedure.
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The acting executive secretary said that in addition to the presentation of the manual, the commission was equally organising an in-house training to teach staff how to effectively put the manual to use.
Mr Daniel Cevagh, Charge de Affairs of the Swiss Embassy in Nigeria, noted that the manner a human rights violation complaint was handled could determine whether or not the case would be easily resolved.
Cevagh said that the introduction of the manual was indicative of the commission’s readiness and commitment to protect the rights of Nigerians.