Deputy Director, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), KolawoleOluwadare, speaks with IMOLEAYO OYEDEYI on the EndSARS protest, the state of human rights protection in the country, among other issues.
It is more than a year that the EndSARS protest, demanding for an end to police brutality, rocked the country. In your own assessment, will you say the situation of things has improved since then?
It will be very hard to say that the situation of things has improved and that can be judged by the adherence to the rule of law, which of course means the protection of the fundamental human rights, principal among which is the right to freedom of expression and making open the civic space. The reaction of the Nigerian government in the last one year has not demonstrated any lesson learnt or an improvement recorded with respect to the rule of law, the fundamental human rights of Nigerians and in keeping an open civic space. And this is typified by the various reactions of the government in its forceful clampdown on any attempt by Nigerians to demonstrate and exercise their freedom of expression.
This is also seen in the various anti-free speech legislations that has been brought into the country through the legislature. We have seen the hate speech bill, the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) bill and some of the repressive legislations, including the use of the section 24 of the Cybercrime Acts to clampdown on free speech.
Most importantly, which is also a fundamental aspect of the rule of law is the disobedience of court orders here and there. Many a times when orders are given by the court, this government has refused to obey and this coupled with the lack of judicial autonomy which has decreased the adjudication of justice. So there has been no meaningful progress or lessons learnt from the events of last years.
But is it that the government does not have the capacity to effect the needed reforms or it just doesn’t have the political will to do it?
I think it is more of the lack of political will, because when you ask whether the government has the resources to do so, it is the government itself that is in the best position answer the question and make Nigerians know whether it truly lacks the resources to fulfill its obligations to them. But as far as I am concerned, the power and the means of enforcing policies that will obey the rule of law and protect the fundamental rights of the people is obviously with the government. So it is more of the absence of political will on the part of the government to do everything it can in line with the law of the land. Besides, how hard is it to reform the police? How hard is it to provide adequate funding for the federal law enforcements agencies? How hard is it to investigate allegations of extra-judicial killings and violations of fundamental human rights of Nigerians? How hard is it to pay compensations to victims of police brutality and serial misconducts? These can’t be as hard as the government is making it appear to be. What the government reaction simply connote is the lack of political will to make things change for the better.
Despite the police promise that they would protect the protesters during the recent EndSARS memorial held across the country, the security operatives were still the one seen unleashing teargas on the protesters. They even arrested some of the youths and journalists who came to cover the protests. Is it that the police haven’t learnt their lessons or they don’t just believe that Nigerians have the rights to protest?
Like I said earlier, the government, including all its agencies involved in any kind of activity relating to the violations of the fundamental human rights of Nigerians, is yet to learn a vital lesson in carrying out their statutory duties, not only to protect the fundamental human rights of Nigerians, but also to announce and promote those rights. I am yet to see any action that will suggest that the government has learnt its lessons.
(Cut In) But some people have attributed the high-handedness and misconducts of the police towards Nigerians to the pitiable state of their stations, remuneration and welfare as well as lack of adequate training. Do you really see these being truly the factors fueling their misconducts?
It will be hard for me to pinpoint a reason why the police or any other agency of the government will abuse the laws of the land. But in a peculiar situations like ours, we can all see that there is lack of adequate funding and infrastructure for most agencies in Nigeria to do their work effectively. So I will not say this is one reason for the police disobedience to the laws of the country, because I believe it is not something we should try to rationalise. It is a breach of the law and it is not defensible in any way
So amid all, how will rate the state of human rights protection and access to justice under the present government in Nigeria?
Access to justice and the protection of the fundamental human rights of Nigerians under the present government of President Buhari, which is over six years now, cannot be said to be in the best of state, because you see more of the breach, rather than protection of the rights, especially the rule of law and obedience to court orders and the adherence to the rules governing the conducts of the federal law enforcement agencies and the various arms of the government. So the question is: how well are Nigerian rights protected? Do they have access to information and freedom of expression? How open is this government? Do we still have a listening government? The answers to these and some other questions will show that the human right records of the present government is really not good enough.
But should such be happening in a government that was established on democratic ethos?
Of course, it shouldn’t be and your guess is as good as mine as to why the government is behaving the same it is acting. And it is not a function of the lack of adequate laws. The 1999 constitutions may not be perfect like every other laws, but it has enough provisions and legal framework to protect the rights of Nigerians and allow the law enforcements agencies to do their work effectively. Chapter four of the constitution provides robust guides on the fundamental human rights, both the rights to live, associate and the freedom of expression. But the main issue now is just the lack of political will and it should not be so. And that is why all Nigerians must join hands and be consistent in this advocacy of government obedience to the rule of law and protection of their human rights.
Recently, the government came up with social media censorship and some other plans to regulate the social media on the premise that they are being used to promote fake news and hate speech. What do you make of this?
It is an excuse actually, but it is not tenable. The Twitter ban came on the heels of the government attempt to regulate the social media, which is one of the actions of the government shrinking the civic space and limiting Nigerian’s freedom of expression. Fake news can be better combatted with the extant laws in the country. We truly have laws the government can enact instead of creating other repressive legislations. We have the libel and the defamation Acts that are still well enshrined in the Nigerian constitution. We also have the cybercrime Acts. And so, there is no need to start stifling the freedom of expression by regulating the social media, through which the citizens challenge the actions of the government. So there is no justification whatsoever to limit the freedom of speech on the basis of curbing fake news.
And in most instances, what the government calls fake news is an attempt by the citizens to question the lack of transparency and accountability in their governance. It is as simple as the government being not open and transparent in its dealings, rights from budgeting to expenditure. The government ought to be very open to the people instead of trying to strangle their freedom of expression. And secondly, you will agree with me fake news is simply falsehood. So if adequate information is going out of the government to the people, it will curb the spread of falsehood. And like I have said, we have laws that exist for defamation and libel. So what the government should do is to promote these extant laws instead of banning the social media.
But so far, how will you rate corruption under the Buhari government, considering the fact that reducing its rate was one of his leading electioneering promises to Nigerians in 2015?
In the absence of any specific parameters, we have to rely on the various researches that have come out before now. Transparency International have rated Nigeria consistently below the 100 mark and this in essence is enough proof if we require any to know that this administration has not fared very well in its fight against corruption. And there are many indices that can be employed too to review this fact, principal among which is transparency index. How aware are people about governance and procurement in Nigeria? Looking at the backlog of loans we have taken in the country, how has each of them being expended? And who has gotten what in those loans?
Most times, what we get is that Nigeria has collected some loans, but we don’t get to hear how the funds are expended. This is to tell you that there is not so much information in public domain concerning the day-to-day governance in Nigerian.
But how do you think the government can address the various shades of corruption in its corridors?
It is very simple: transparency and accountability in governance and this covers every tier and parastatals of the government, from budgetary to expenditure. The fact is that it is not the absence of requisite laws to tackle corruption in the country, but it is the lack of enforcements of the laws. We have the Procurement Acts that details how public procurements is to be done. But is it being followed? Does the government have mechanisms to ensure that public office holders that breach the Acts are well prosecuted? These are essential questions.
A section of the constitution empowers certain departments to publish reports annually about the expenditure and procurements made by all agencies of the government. But what has the government done about the reports? Has any of its officials found culpable in making dubious procurements tried? So far, how much has the government recovered from its anti-corruption fight. How has the recovered funds been expended? These are vital questions and people will start seeing the government as being transparent and accountable when it start providing answers to these questions and making them open to all Nigerians. There are also far-reaching decisions that can be taken, one of which abolishing the payment of pensions and security votes to state governments and their governors.
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