ABUJA – Prof. Bem Angwe, Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), on Monday in Abuja said that Nigeria has recorded tremendous progress since its last peer review in 2008.
Angwe made the assertion at a one-day interactive workshop on the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Standards and Codes in Nigeria by the National Steering Committee (NSC) on the 2nd peer review of Nigeria.
The standards and codes represent those international best practices which nations in the world have adopted and made obligatory for states to comply with.
Angwe, who is the Chairman of the NSC, noted that Nigeria had been signatory to many instruments and treaties, some of which also provided standards for issues such as political governance and democratisation.
“Today as we speak there is some improvement particularly given the testimony of the conduct of the 2015 general elections.
“This is an area that Nigeria is being given high pass marks both at home and abroad.
“However, we must bear in mind that it has taken over 50 years after independence for Nigeria to get to this point.
“This is a good development but there is still a lot of work to do having a free and fair election is not enough.
“It is also important for Nigeria to imbibe the culture of democracy where we will have national institutions that will ensure democratic principles like strengthening the National Human Rights Commission,’’ Angwe said.
He noted that one of the major reasons for embarking on the review was the realisation by African leaders that qualified Africans preferred to travel abroad to take on menial jobs.
“You find graduates from African countries travelling abroad to take up jobs like mortuary attendants, cleaners, dish washers and so on.’’
Angwe said the situation was prevalent due to the poor conditions that existed in African countries adding that the APRM was to evolve ways to strengthen the continent to compete favourable with others.
According to him, the steering committee is to create a platform for Nigerians to come together and assess themselves and forge ahead.
He added that a National Stakeholders Forum would be convened within a week to validate the report which would be submitted to the Federal Government for transmission to the APRM meeting coming up in South Africa.
The Solicitor-General of the Federation, Mr Abdullahi Yola, on his part said it was commendable and encouraging that since inception, successive governments had continued to remain committed to the APRM.
Yola, who was represented by Mr Pius Oteh, Director International Law in the Ministry of Justice, noted the need to continuously give the APRM the necessary attention.
In an interview with newsmen, the Director of APRM, New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Mr Gregory Iyogun, said the first review pointed out areas of improvement which were thoroughly looked into.
“The first review gave us areas of improvement, what is called the National Programme of Action, so, the second peer review is going to build on what was discovered as shortfalls.
“These are in the areas of political governance, economic governance and the other thematic areas. You will recall that our election was very successful.
“What Nigerians may not know is that the African Peer Review Mechanism has actually identified areas of improvement in our political structure.
“So, we are not surprised by the outcome of the elections because we had identified the need for INEC to be independent and have free and fair elections in the country,’’ he said.
NAN reports that the APRM has four thematic areas which include democracy and political governance, economic governance and management, corporate governance and socio-economic development.
NAN also reports that the country would have been peer reviewed four years after the first one in 2008 but was behind schedule due to security challenges.