- Urges politicians to avoid extravagant lifestyles
- Speaks on rights of journalists
The founder of the Human Rights Journalists Network, Mr Kehinde Adegboyega, has called on President Bola Tinubu and other politicians in the country to respect the rule of law and implement policies that regard the fundamental human rights of citizens.
Mr Adegboyega also urged the public officeholders to make sacrifices for the common good of Nigerian people by cutting down on extravagant expenses, adding that “they must block all leakages since they cannot subsidise fuel, they cannot subsidise education.”
HRJN boss made these known during an exclusive interview with Development News Nigeria, on the state of the nation, especially on the fuel subsidy removal and rights of Nigerians.
Mr Adegboyega decried the continued insensitivity politicians display in governing the country without respect for the tenets of democracy and thus called for the implementation of the Anti-Torture Act.
Respect for rule of law
“Our expectation from President Bola Tinubu’s administration is that every policy should respect human rights. Every policy must consider the rights of citizens. Every policy must respect the right to life enshrined in the Constitution. And this is not restricted to the President alone, but to also the Senate, the House of Representatives, as well as state and local governments,” Mr Adegboyega said.
“As I mentioned on Twitter Space recently, we are in a democracy, and we have to speak out on the Anti-Torture Act. People should stop behaving like we are in the military or dictatorship government. We are in a democracy.
“One other thing I like to emphasise is that rule of law must be respected. Another thing is that politicians must make sacrifices for citizens. They must tighten their belts. They must stop the extravagant expenses that characterise our politics. We need to address budget padding and inflation in the budget. They must block all leakages since they cannot subsidise fuel, they cannot subsidise education.”
The activist argued that developed countries still offer subsidies for their citizens in numerous areas of providing infrastructural facilities, and implored Nigerian leaders to be accountable and transparent in funding education.
He lamented that some projects designed to fund the education of Nigerians have failed and natural resources are mismanaged across the country.
He said, “Even developed countries still subsidise their people, so the Nigerian government must engage in building a lot of infrastructure. the corruption has eaten deep into our development system and this must be looked into. For instance, in education can we talk about accountability? Can they account for the budget devoted to education? There is a lot of funding like the Education Trust Fund, SUBEB. where is all this funding going? Nigeria has a lot of mineral resources like gold in Zamfara but corruption does not let us see any development.”
Defending the rights of journalists
Speaking about the network he oversees, Mr Adegboyega recounted capacity-building trainings organised to defend and preserve the rights of journalists.
He said, “Human Rights Journalists Network Nigeria is a registered non-profit organisation that collaborates to document capacity-building and advocate on human rights issues in Nigeria. The organisation started four years ago, but we got registered last year after some rejections from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
“We have organised capacity-building trainings for journalists locally and internationally. We focus on building the capacity of journalists who are confronting human rights issues. We have organised sessions in Nigeria and abroad.
“Last year, we had a panel session with during the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF) by Paradigm Initiative. This year in April, we had a session on the fact-checking on elections in the digital age in Nairobi, Kenya. We had one on using video and technology to document human rights in Nigeria during RightsCon, a global conference on human rights in the digital age by Access Now in 2022. During 2023 Rightcon edition in Costa Rica, they approved our session for in person, but we couldn’t make it to Costa Rica because of visa issues.
“That session was on Digital Authouritarianism and freedom of expression in Nigeria. We had Jonathan Rosen of the Committee to Protect Journalists we had Angela Uwandu from ASF and myself in that session. We realised that film is a powerful tool devised for human rights advocacy.”
He listed numerous challenges that journalists are confronted with that threaten their safety, such as unpaid allowances from employers, and physical assaults from security agencies among others and stressing that his organisation try to seek justice for them in these areas.
“Journalists continue to face one challenge or the other, such as safety. Apart from challenges they face with their employers such as unpaid salaries, they face abuse, such as being beaten up, they also face illegal detention.
“We do advocacy and represent them to seek justice for them. These are the areas we are exploring. Also, we engage on this global level at RightsCon where HRJN spoke about the challenges that journalists in Nigeria face during a session in partnership with Avocats Sans Frontieres France Nigeria and Commitee to Protect Journalists. We will continue to engage, advocate and build capacity and keep forming alliances to help journalists,” he said.
He, however, urged that, “Journalists need to do more in reporting. They must stand up for their rights and build up our society.”
Human rights festival
He shed light on the Human Rights Festival, as he said it was an avenue to advocate on human rights, using film and documentaries as a tool.
“The Africa International Human Rights Festival started last year to the UN International Human Rights Day. It is a 3-day hybrid event that focuses on using film to drive human rights advocacy. We explore different human rights themes like gender rights, migration rights, disability rights, climate justice and others. We had a panel discussion this year. This year, we will continue to focus on these issues on International Human Rights Day on December 10,” he added.
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