By Emma Okereh
Pursuant to the mandate of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), to carry out periodic audit of places of detention, the commission, yesterday organized a training program for Visitors who would participate in the police station visitors week scheduled to hold from February 21st to 25th. This was disclosed by the Executive Secretary of NHRC, Barr Tony Ojukwu at the opening ceremony of the training program on Wednesday. He said that the project is part of a larger project on strengthening police reform in Nigeria which is funded by MacArthur Foundation but implemented by the commission in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President, CLEEN Foundation, Network for Police Reforms (NOPRIN), and the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocate Center (RULAAC). Ojukwu further explained that the Police Station Visitors Week (PSVW), is in furtherance of his commission’s mandate to carry out periodic audit of places of detention across the country to ensure that practices in those places conform with human rights standards. ”It is aimed at enhancing police accountability, identifying good practices and documenting challenges that may exist with a view to making recommendations to appropriate authorities for improvement in respect for human rights.While stressing that the commission the exercise is not to witch-hunt anybody, he revealed the preparedness and cooperation of the Police authority in ensuring that the exercise is excited seamlessly. He further stated that the police stations to be visited were selected based on geographical spread and will cover one state person geo-political zone including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The selected states include, Sokoto for North West, Bauchi for North East, Benue for North Central, Oyo for South West, Imo for South East, Edo for South South and the FCT. He said that a total of six police stations will be visited per state. He advised the officers that would participate in the audit to engage actively with the preparation of the exercise and be conversant with the checklist.
