Godwin Tsa, Abuja
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has called on governors of northern states not to just relocate Almajeri to their states of origin but to also develop programmes to address their needs.
Rather, the Commission called on Northern state governors to develop a multi-sectoral programme of action for the transfer, return and rehabilitation of the Almajeri.
The Director, Corporate Affairs and External Linkages, Lambert Okparah, said this was contained in just-issued ‘advisory opinion’.
Okparah stated that the advisory opinion was issued in line with the commission’s mandate as provided in section 5 (l)(m)(o) of its enabling Act.
He said, “The commission calls on northern states’ governments to develop a multi-sectoral programme of action for the transfer, return and rehabilitation of Almajirai.
A major step towards achieving this will be an obligation on the part of affected states to put in place financial, institutional, and programmatic frameworks to urgently address the needs of the Almajirai.”
Earlier, the Commission on Children’s Day urged 11 northern which had yet to domesticate the Child’s Rights Act to quickly do so, to enable them to comprehensively address the problems associated with the Almajirai problems.
The northern governors recently reached an agreement to relocate Almajirai in their domains to their states of origin to mitigate the spreading of COVID-19 pandemic. To