Nigerian Rights Panel To Present Report By October
KANO, Nigeria, March 21 (News Agencies) - The panel set up to investigate human rights abuses in Nigeria dating back to 1966 will present its report by independence day on October 1, its chairman said Wednesday.
Former Supreme Court Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, who heads the seven-member panel, said it had already started writing up its report and recommendations.
President Olusegun Obasanjo set up the panel in June 1999 to investigate human rights abuses dating back to the first military coup.
It has since received thousands of petitions covering alleged assassinations, illegal imprisonment, torture and repression, and held public sittings in the cities of Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano.
A further hearing is to be held in the city of Enugu next month.
Oputa said the panel hoped to have its report ready by October 1st.
"We hope to present our report before our next independence anniversary," he said.
He said the report would, among other things, recommend compensation for victims and punishment for offenders.
"We will also recommend to the presidency how Nigeria can cultivate the culture of respect for human rights and how to reconcile various communities," he said.
The panel would urge the president to consider how best to foster reconciliation between Nigerians abused and marginalized over many years, and their tormentors, he said.
Oputa said that if any petitioner was not satisfied with the panel's recommendations, nothing should stop them going to court to seek redress from their abuser.
"Whether we recommend or do not recommend it does not stop a petitioner from exercising his other rights as a Nigerian citizen," he said.
