LAGOS- A two-day workshop on Understanding Nigeria Land Law, Human Rights and Development Projects organized for journalists, ended last Tuesday in Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria.
The training, attended by journalists in and outside Lagos State was organized by the Justice Empowerment Initiatives and supported by Pulitzer Centre on Crisis Reporting, based in Washington D.C., United States of America, held between Monday 23 and Tuesday 24, May, 2016.
The programme equipped participants with the knowledge of Land Law, Human Rights Law on Land, forced eviction, removal of trespassers and demolition, as they relate to investigating and reporting development projects and public participation.
The workshop further afforded participants sources of these rights laws which included Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, International/Regional Human Rights treaties that Nigeria has signed and ratified.
Among them are Right to Property in Section 43 and 44 of the 1999 Constitution and Article 12 the of African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR), Right to Public Participation, Right to Development and Right to Environment guaranteed by Article 13(1), 22 and 24 of the (ACHPR), respectively.
The Freedom of Information Act, 2011, Environmental Impact Assessment Act (EIA Decree No. 86 of 1992), Right to Housing/Shelter and Right to Fair Hearing as provided in Article 11.1 of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution, respectively, were also emphasized.
Speaking to our crime reporter who participated in the two-day training, a resource person of the event and co-founder/co-Executive Director of Justice Empowerment Initiatives-Nigeria, Megan Chapman Esq. stated that the essence of the event was to equip Nigeria journalists of relevant laws that would aid their investigation into cases of land grabs, human rights violations and forced eviction.
Megan Chapman however advised Nigerians whose rights have been violated in any form never to give up in pursuance of their rights.
Quoting Alice Walker, she stated that “The most common way people give up their power is by believing that they don’t have any”.
