Stakeholders call for effective implementation of anti-torture Law in Nigeria

Towards the end of the year 2016, it was obvious that there was the need for enhanced awareness campaign, advocacy and sensitization programmes to educate the law enforcement agencies, civil society organizations and the general public to evolve right attitudinal and institutional changes necessary for successful implementation of an anti-torture law in Nigeria Federation.

It is in view of this that Access to Justice and Rule of Law and Anti-corruption, RoLAC, organized a two-day workshop in Awka, the Anambra State, on Thursday with support from the European Union, funded by the British Council, for Civil Society Organizations on the Anti-torture Act 2017.

Speaking on the workshop, a Professor of Law at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, also a life member of the International Federation of Women Lawyers, Prof. Ogugua Ikpeze, said that effective collaboration and coordination between government agencies and institutions, as well as educative campaigns and mass awareness, would be of great advantage to curbing torture in Nigeria society.

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In their separate contributions, the Project Director, Access to Justice, Mr Deji Ajare and the Chairman, Anambra Civil Society Network, Prince Chris Azor, who described the workshop as timely, due to the enormity of torture cases in recent times in many Nigeria homes, expressed the hope that the workshop would yield the required result.

In a paper presentation, Mrs Didi Odigie-Bedell, a Lawyer and also the Director at the Law Reform Commission, who spoke on domestic and international legislation that prohibit and criminalize the use of torture, called for sensitization of the populace on the intendments of the anti-torture act.

Tribune Online gathered that the workshop which attracted professionals and practitioners from the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, Nigeria Correctional Services, and the Civil Society Organizations, has its theme as “Anti Torture Act and The Draft Rules That Guide Its Implementation.”