On wednesday the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, urged the Federal Government of Nigeria to extend the whistle-blower policy in the war against corruption to the efforts to arrest the proliferation of arms. Saying that whistle-blower policy should be extended to incessant killings in various parts of the nation and also urged the Government to ensure respect for human rights in the implementation of whistle-blower policy in the war against corruption and proliferation of arms.
Uche Anichukwu, his media adviser said that Ekweremadu spoke while paying host to a delegation of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA), which paid a courtesy call to him in his office Wednesday.
According to Ekweremadu “Life has lost meaning in Nigeria and people are killed every day and everywhere in Nigeria and the Senate is very worried about it. He also noted that the right to life remained the single most important human right. He insisted that unless such illicit arms were mopped up, the mass killings and destruction of lives and property would continue.
He futher said “We just considered the report of the Senate Committee that investigated conflicts in many parts of Nigeria, especially the killings in Southern Kaduna. We asked the Committee to go back and do more work because the matter is such a very serious one.
“I also made it clear that it is important that just as we have addressed the issues of money laundering and corruption with the whistle-blower policy, it is time for us to bring that to bear on the issue of arms proliferation in the country.
“People keep arms all over the place and some people know where they are. It is time that those who know where these arms are should be able to blow the whistle on them so that the security agencies will be able to go after them and ensure that they are seized and destroyed. So long as we have arms all over the place, the killings will continue”.
It said that while commending HURIWA and the Nigerian human rights community, especially , for consistently standing up for the rights of Nigerians.
Ekweremadu said that all legitimate steps must be taken to preserve human rights as well as uphold constitutionalism and rule of law. human rights were at the heart of democracy.
However, the Senator said that while he remained a proponent of whistle-blowing policy, the invasion of people’s privacy without due diligence was completely unacceptable.
He also called on the Nigerian Civil Society community to leverage on the CSOs Desk at the National Assembly to partner with the apex legislative body for good governance of the nation.
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