By Emma Okereh.
In order to encourage federal government agencies, state governments and civil society organizations to continue to advance the protection and promotion of human rights in the country, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), has called for nominations of deserving Nigerians and institutions for an Award.
At a press briefing to unveil the procedure for nominations and voting, the Executive Secretary of the commission, Tony Ojukwu explained that the briefing was to intimate Nigerians of the arrangement for the selection of deserving Nigerians and MDAs. He recalled that the journey started in 2019 and since then, ”we have recognized icons in our midst that play significant role in the realization, promotion and enjoyment of human rights in our country.” He said.
Explaining the rationale behind the award in the face of daunting human rights challenges in the country, Ojukwu explained that the awards are in realization of the fact that the human rights situation in the country despite the daunting challenges can maintain a steady improvement if individuals and organizations are encouraged to do more by appreciation their efforts in advancing the course of human rights in the country.
This year’s event which is the third edition of the annual National Human Rights Awards is scheduled to take place on December,10 as part of activities to mark the 2021 international human rights day.
The executive secretary explained that the awards are in three categories, namely, federal government agencies, state governments and civil society organizations.
He called on Nightmares to select from list of nominations through voting for their preferred choices. He also listed the indicators for selection deserving MDAs for the award. The commission clarified that social media platforms will be used by experts to request members of the public to vote for deserving candidates.
It states that ”Voting will be done online and will comment on 12th November 2021 and ends on 22nd November, 2021. The winners from the results of the votes cast by the public will receive their awards on 10th December explaining that a special website domain for public voting and the online voting is a demonstration of the commission’s commitment to public particular and transparency in the whole exercise. It gave out the domain address as www.nhrcawards.ng.
