NHRC Holds Gubernatorial Town Hall Meeting In Asaba

By Norbert Fidelis

In what looks like an electoral reform, the National Human Right Commission, Asaba Branch had a Town Hall Meeting with the various Gubernatorial aspirants in the State

Delivering his welcome address, Mr. Ngwu, the Delta State coordinator of NHRC, welcomed everybody to the event and said the commission was founded in1999 to promote the right of the people. He said the commission has played crucial roles in the promotion of democracy and human right in the country stating that the town hall meeting is the first of its kind since the inception of democracy in the country. He then concluded that the aim of the meeting is to bring the various aspirants together before the people, and tell them their human right manifestoes, if eventually voted into power

Also speaking, the Special Adviser to the Executive Director of the NHRC, Mr. Benedict Agwu, said the town hall meeting is going on simultaneously around the country, adding that the people have a chance to interact and ask questions as its an opportunity for them to bare their minds on the latest happenings in the country and how the aspirants hope to overcome the challenges, including other knotty issues like insecurity , poverty and unemployment

The third speaker , and a representative of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, Mr. Bankole Ojeme , said access to govt. and equality are key human right issues. He said the forthcoming elections should be taking seriously and advised all Nigerians that are eligible to vote to make sure they perform their civic right ,adding that human right is about participation and nobody should be made to stay behind. Finally, he said over 300,000 PVCs are still left uncollected in the State and urged the people to go and get their PVC.

Other speakers at the event are, the President of the Civil Right Council, Delta State Branch, Mr. Lucky Obini and a representative of the Christian Association Of Nigeria Rev. Cannon Blessing

During the manifesto, all the political parties present promised to make human right issue a priority in their govt. and also carry the people along if voted into power. However, the PDP representative at the meeting, Hon. Funkekeme Solomon said the party will do more by bringing in meaningful development, creating more opportunities, making realistic reforms and enhance peace and security in the State

The town hall meeting drew various stakeholders from across the State including ,the police, CSOs ,media, religious bodies and others. The objective of the programme is to create an interface between the political aspirants and the people and discuss on how to tackle human right and others civil related issues