Anambra has been singled out of the states in Nigeria as being a state with the worst human rights abuse by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)
The State Coordinator of NHRC, Mrs Nkechi Laura Ofong, who spoke to newsmen at a press briefing in Awka, on Wednesday, said that the commission’s investigation into states with human rights abuses, revealed that Anambra’s case is on the increase, due to so much attachment to obnoxious traditions and culture, despite their belief in christianity and Islamic doctrines .
She said that the abuses range from discrimination against women, travails of widowhood, domestic economic violence and social deprivations, child abuse and neglect, human trafficking and kidnapping.
She decried the rate of human rights abuses in Anambra State and by extension Nigeria, and therefore directed the people of the state to their offices, where she said peace and conflict resolution is on ground, adding that NHRC mission statement is to defend the defenseless.
Mrs.Ofong said that the commission is being confronted by many challenges in Anambra State ranging from education of the populace, especially the down trodden, on what constitutes their rights and financial constraints, but said that they are surmountable.
She called on Nigerian governments at all levels to obey the United Nations’ treaty on human rights, adding that there were lots of human rights abuses and violation in the country, and that if nothing was done, there would be no peaceful co-existence, justice and meaningful development.
[Tribune]