Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Nigerian Navy has declared that it places a high premium on respect for humanitarian laws and human rights in its operations.
This it said has continued to define its collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which in turn has impacted positively on the efficiency of the Navy’s standard of complying with international humanitarian laws and human rights in its operations.
The Field Officer Commanding (FOC) at the Central Naval Command (CNC), Real Admiral Saidu Garba, who stated this during a two-day workshop organised by the CNC in collaboration the ICRC, at CNC headquarters, Yenagoa said all human rights are basic right which all humans are entitled.
According to him, the workshop will assist to develop a naval force that is well organised, trained and highly motivated to discharge its constitutional roles professionally and efficiently.
He said, “In recent times, the involvement of the Armed Forces of Nigeria in internal security operations have come under intense scrutiny, with international organisations like the Amnesty International reporting on the violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by the Nigerian military. Accordingly, the Nigerian Navy under the leadership of the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas, recognises the need to improve the capacity of her personnel in complying with such laws by collaborating with international organisations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross.
“The collaboration will assist to develop a naval force that is well trained, organised and highly motivated to discharge its constitutional roles professionally and efficiently for the defence of Nigeria in ensuring her economic prosperity. The result of such collaboration is this workshop holding today, which is hoped will continue even in the years ahead. Accordingly, I urge all participants to give the workshop the desired attention to reap maximum benefit from the rare privilege of having the resource persons to conduct the workshop.”
Isaac Abu, an International Humanitarian Law (IHL) resources person, said the training was organised to share information about the knowledge of international humanitarian law and what it is all about.