IN 2010, stakeholders with the collaboration of the National Assembly and civil society successfully advocated the passage of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, Amendment Act 2010 which amongst other things empowered the commission to compel to investigate human rights violations, register her decisions with the high court as equivalent to decisions of the high court and enforceable as such, get her finances as a first line charge on government finances, independent in its operations and not subject to the directives of any authority or person, secured tenure of members who cannot be removed before the end of their tenure without an act of misconduct which removal shall be concurred by the senate. Amongst the comity of national human rights institutions, the statute of the Commission is adjudged to be the best. Stakeholders have, meanwhile called for the restructuring of the commission, with the appointment of capable hands to run it for the maximum benefit of Nigerians. Hope of the common man Their argument is that if the NHRC is left in the hands of persons who know what to do, it should be able to be the hope of the common man and thus realize the dream of founding fathers and the government. Chairman NHRC, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu For the commission to move forward, stakeholders are of the view that the down turn of things must be arrested and reversed. Its primary role: As noted by a rights activist, who spoke to Vanguard Law and Human Rights on condition of anonymity, playing that primary role for which it was set up, has lately not been the case with the rights body. The Dr Chidi Odinkalu led commission was the first governing council to inherit the wonder NHRC statute of 2010 (tenure 2011-2015). The council tried in a couple of landmark decisions to restore the confidence of Nigerians in the ability of the commission to protect the right of Nigerians. The decision of the body in the Apo Killings in Abuja is a case in point. The Baga, Borno State incident is also another case in point. However, according to the activist, open disagreements, quarrels and lack of cooperation between the Executive Secretary, Prof Bem Angwe and the former Chairman, Dr Odinkalu, almost tore the council apart and pitched the staff between the Chairman and the Executive Secretary. Staff welfare According to him, as a result, staff welfare suffered, discipline was at the lowest ebb in the commission. There were allegations of one sided employment of unemployable staff, carried out without regard to federal character, investigation and monitoring of complaints of human rights violation were allegedly determined. Human rights violation Also there were allegation of lack of investigation vehicles and staff who used their salaries to investigate complaints are owed for two-three years. Only complaints from a particular state, where one of the henchmen hails from were claimed to be speedily investigated and remedied. The state offices are in a sorry state both in infrastructure and funding. alleged the source. The state offices are said to receive about N100,000 per annum to fund electricity, water, Internet, research, monitoring and investigation of complaints among others. Another source, said most of the rents for the state offices are in arrears and staff morale at both the state offices and headquarters is very low. Some staff in Lagos office had once complained of the inept and lopsided leadership of the commission as well as the neglect of the state offices. It was alleged that staff members were transferred to where they are now redundant. “Where the entire council has no local content in terms of institutional memory, strangers who do not have much stake in the organisation may take over pursuing their personal and self agenda to the detriment of the organisational goals and objectives,” the source said. It is inevitable that where both the Chairman and Executive Secretary cannot agree on issues, the NHRC is bound to suffer and the staff whose faith are tied to the commission are at the receiving end. The case of inability of the former council to approve ordinary conditions of service for staff within four years of its tenure was cited as a case in point. The participation of the Chairman of NHRC in the River State Government probe panel without the approval of other council members was also attributable to the poor working relationship amongst the Dr. Odinkalu led Governing Council, whose tenure just expired. The general feeling of staff is that the past council did not touch their lives in any form. Poor management The journey to this sorry state of the commission is as a result of poor management and misplaced priorities. Concerned members of the public have expressed dismay at the inability of the commission to resolve complaints from Nigerians. There are allegations that the investigation office of the commission has not been effective in handling complaints from members of the public. There were claims of favouritism in official trips outside the country and that funds were allegedly approved directly for junior officers without input from their superiors thereby undermining management and departmental discipline. “A management audit is indeed overdue for that Commission”, noted the source. “We were shocked to find out from staff that some of their claims for investigations and other official assignments carried out in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 had not yet been paid till date. The vouchers are rolled over every year. Joint Payment Vouchers of officers favoured by the authorities are separated from others and paid while that of unfavoured staff are left unpaid for years. “Assignments, reports, projects and other activities formerly treated by staff are firmed out to consultants from one part of the country at huge costs. At the end of the day, such consultants are paid and there is no money to pay staff claims,” the source added. Constituency projects When some of the staff in the zonal offices were asked to comment on the implementation of the constituency project of which they claimed that they were not involved and did not benefit from, they further drew attention to the implementation of the IDP project funded by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR. “Enquiries on the management of the administration shows that administrative guidelines in employment and discipline are ignored and the administration department is not given a free hand to work professionally. “Deployment of staff is not carried out professionally in the best interest of the Commission but to favour persons. Perceived juicy positions or less tedious departments are used to favour staff who are better qualified to contribute elsewhere. Departments and units are created to favour particular officers. at present few staff are deployed where they were employed for or where they can be of maximum benefit to the Commission, square pegs in round holes all over the place.” It was further alleged. “No aspect of the Commission’s work has been spared by incompetence. The state and zonal offices are entirely neglected. Routine visits to the offices are neglected. Basic things like furniture, photocopier, Internet etc are sparingly functional at the state offices. There are no stationery to work with and at times staff request complainants to supply transport to assist in the investigation of their complaints,” added the source.

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I think this commission has been a joke of the century, cause I have cousin that work with NHRC and he is a level 7 officer with a basic less than 30k per month and he is yet to get his pay for last month because the executive secretary the person of Prof. Ben removed then from IPPIS which make then not to operate in the level of federal workers which they ought to be and the man has been some short changes in the commission, I will be happy if this can make the front page in other call the Directors in that commission to questioning, thanks