CDHR Chieftain Berates FG for Giving Nigerians Paltry N25,000 As Palliative

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

The former president of the Committee for Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) Dr. Osagie Obayuwana, has berated the federal government over the move to pay N25,000 palliative to Nigerians, describing it as a “misplaced priority.”

Obayuwana said the amount was not commensurable to the hardships Nigerians are experiencing.
Speaking in Ilorin at the just concluded biennial conference of CDHR’s annual general conference held at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Obayuwana said, “Nigerians deserve a system that bequeaths citizens basic amenities that will develop their psyche and automatically compel and ignite their inbuilt patriotism.

Obayuwana added, “Erratic electricity supply, lack of accommodation, poor healthcare service and general breakdown of life-enhancing facilities can never be remedied by palliative.”

He explained that the pay rises that successive governments have constantly announced were tactless, noting that “Imoudu was always agitating and seeking pay rise tied to the existing inflation rate for workers.”
“We have resolved that our rights are non-negotiable. We want a new Nigeria of which its resources would be used for the generality of all Nigerians,” said Obayuwana.

The Director-General of Michael Imoudu National Institute of Labour Studies, Comrade Issa Aremu, disclosed that plans were underway to include human rights studies in the institute’s curriculum for workers to know past heroes and their tactics to their recorded heights.

“We shall partner CDHR on this project so that the fundamental issues of rights will be useful for organised labour,” stated Aremu.

The director of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA,) Gloria Okodua, called for more women’s participation in human rights activism, urging the group to sharpen its sensitisation, especially at the grassroots, towards winning more activists to ensure total awareness in the struggle.