The Socio- Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP has launched its first Semi-Annual Civic space monitor.
It says Stakeholders in nation-building must collaborate to ensure and uphold effective implementation of citizens’ human rights and media freedom in Nigerians.
This was the focal point of deliberations and Fourteen-point Programme on promoting effective implementation of citizens’ human rights and media freedom by SERAP.
The Deputy Director of SERAP, Mr. Kolawole Oluwadare said it is important to ensure a safe civic space for citizens’ rights in Nigeria.
“We don’t have to be activists, journalists or even lawyers to appreciate what the civic space means to us. It might be the ability to send an SMS without law enforcement agencies being privy to the contents of such SMSs, it might be that ability to be able to type something on Twitter or Face book or any other social media platform without being picked up and tagged under the cybercrimes act. It can be as simple as being able to get your rights enforced by the police, so the civic space is something that is very important to all of us.”
Oluwadare said the fourteen points programme on civic engagement and media freedom in Nigeria captured the essence of what has been researched in the last six months towards ensuring a safe civic space for citizens in the country.
“We are not talking challenges as it were or the state of things, we are looking at solutions and that is why we are presenting the fourteen points programme to enable government to create that effective civic space and promote human rights.”
Representing the Executive Secretary of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the Senior Public Relations Officer of NHRC, Mrs Genny Torhee called on all Nigerians and actors in nation-building to join their efforts to protect the rights of citizens.
“The law is designed to give expressions or answers to the demands of accountability, citizens are meant to understand how they are governed and how government institutions spend public funds,” she stated.
“In essence therefore, the people including the press and CSOs should be proactive in utilizing the extant legislations to contribute their little quota to improving governance and not merely sitting on the fence while dreaming of better life and livelihood’
“For us at National Human Rights Commission, we have been at the forefront of engendering the understanding that both the government, security agencies, the media and CSO’s must see themselves as critical stakeholders in nation building,” Mrs Genny Torhee said.
“In line with our mandate, we have issued advisories to government not to clamp down on people who seek to express themselves as long as they are within the ambit of the law, let us rise, let us join hands now more than we are already doing in order to change the narrative.”
The first semi-annual Civic Space Monitor and Fourteen-point Programme on promoting effective implementation of citizens’ human rights and media freedom was organized by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) in conjunction with the National Endowment for Democracy.
