Renewed efforts must be made to address inter-communal violence: Nigeria’s top civil servant

The recent bloody inter-communal clashes in Nigeria must not be allowed to continue threatening national stability, the country’s newly appointed Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.

Praising the government for maintaining calm, strongly condemning the violence, and going after those responsible for the killings in the troubled city of Jos, Ambassador Martin I Uhomoibhi stressed the need to “stay on route to find constitutional solutions to what are complex challenges”.

“Violence erupts because of unresolved economic issues, ethnicity, quest for land and - more fundamentally - poverty,” he explained. “Efforts now need to be redoubled to address these challenges and it is the responsibility of the Commonwealth and the international community to work with the Nigerian government during this time.”

Specifically, he said that the Commonwealth and other international organisations can help by supporting electoral reform, building up the capacity of key institutions like the police, and helping with constitutional challenges.

Commonwealth actively engaged

“Whether implementing debt management software, carrying out a range of education, health and small business development programmes, or supporting the strengthening of democratic and public institutions, the Commonwealth is currently highly active in Nigeria,” said Ayodele Oke, the Commonwealth Secretariat’s leading political adviser on Africa.

“As the country celebrates its fiftieth anniversary since independence, we stand ready to continue working closely with this highly valued member state as it struggles with the difficult root causes of the horrific violent outbreaks.”

Ambassador Uhomoibhi, considered Nigeria’s top civil servant, said that the challenges facing Nigeria – whether economic or ethnic – are not confined to its borders. “I don’t know of any country in the world which has been spared these kinds of problems in their national development.”

He explained that Nigeria, 11 years on since the end of military rule, must “stay strong, as not all of the issues will be resolved overnight.” He stressed that with support from the international community in targeting key challenges, further progress will be made.

Global human rights review

Ambassador Uhomoibhi, who until recently held the post of President of the UN Human Rights Council, made these comments at a recent visit to the Commonwealth’s global headquarters in London, for a meeting which reviewed progress of countries undergoing the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

This Review will, for the first time ever, explore the human rights situation throughout the world, regardless of a country’s size or wealth. To date 112 of the UN’s 192 countries have signed up to the review, including 27 Commonwealth members.

“I am very happy and satisfied with the way the UPR process has been going,” said the Ambassador, who expressed confidence that all remaining submissions to the UN will be made.

He added that the Commonwealth has a key role to play in helping countries with this complicated process, especially in its work with small states, some of which require support to complete their respective submissions to the UN.

Meaningful change

Dr Purna Sen, Head of Human Rights at the Secretariat, said that as well as helping countries with their submissions, the Commonwealth will also focus its efforts on the follow-up phase to ensure meaningful change on human rights.

As part of each country’s review in front of the Human Rights Council sitting in Geneva, recommendations are made by member states. The country under review responds to the recommendations, indicating the areas they would support. As UPR is a peer review mechanism, it offers an opportunity for genuine dialogue among countries and provides a conduit for addressing some of the challenges on human rights through international co-operation.

“The UPR is a continuous process that does not start or end in Geneva. The true value of UPR will be seen in the difference that follow up makes to the people of the country being reviewed, through implementation of recommendations accepted by the state,” explained Dr Sen. “Countries have come very far, with goodwill and energy, in engaging in this complex process. It is now vital that this good work continues.”

The UPR meeting in London on 11 and 12 March brought together government, national human rights commission and non-governmental organisation representatives from 18 Commonwealth countries.

Ambassador Uhomoibhi was present in his current role as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva and Nigeria’s Ambassador to Switzerland.

Key Links:

• Country Profile: Nigeria
• Human Rights