CSOs Lament Shrinking Civic Space in Niger Delta

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) operating in states of the South-South and Niger Delta have lamented the closure of public space by government and other state actors against the expression of free speech and other fundamental rights of their citizens.

The CSOs stated this at a multi stakeholders dialogue for organisations operating in the region, held in Port Harcourt, yesterday.
In his presentation on, “Civic Infractions by Non-State Actors and State Governments in the Niger Delta,” Ken Henshaw, Executive Director of We The People, noted that governments in the region through various legislations and policy have continued to infringe on the rights of its citizens and making them unable to freely associate, assemble and express themselves.

He said: “When we talk about civic space, we talk about the right to associate, assemble and express ourselves and we are saying that that space is shrinking; meaning that citizens are enjoying less of those opportunities. State actors, governments at the federal, state and local levels are taking actions that are restricting citizens from those basic rights”.

He condemned the situations where governments are banning protest and urging citizens not hold protests against unfavourable policies.
This, according to him, “is against the spirit of civic rights which are fundamental to the existence of human beings”, saying that “Human beings must be able to assemble and express themselves and even showing dissent around the policy of government. They should be able to freely do so within the civic space without any fear of intimidation”.

Henshaw recalled that in most cases journalists were restricted to carry out their duties freely, while many have faced challenge of arrest and detention in the course of their professional duties.
His words: “We have seen instances where journalists have been repressed, where the rights of citizens are being infringed upon, where journalists are not allowed to do their work appropriately, where journalists have been arrested and incarcerated.
“We are simply saying no. We need to push for a more enhanced, a more open and a more embracing space for those things to happen and for citizens to enjoy those rights”.

He urged the government to respect the rights of citizens to freely associate and assemble.
He said: “My call to the government is that they must understand that the right of citizens to assemble, to associate and to freely express their views is fundamental and respected by law and government must respect those rights.

“They must as a matter of necessity take actions to protect and promote those basic rights of the citizens and not infringe upon it under any circumstances”.
The activist disclosed that the dialogue is expected to create a framework to put pressure on the government to respect those rights.
“We expect that through the actions we are taking here today, we would be able to put pressure on different layers of government from national, state and local governments to better respect the rights of citizens and better respect those rights in the context of freedom to assemble, the freedom to associate and freedom to express ourselves,” Henshaw said.

On his part, Barr Leonard Oragwa stated that in the last eight years, several government legislations and policies have been put in place to stifle the civic space ranging from intimidation of the media, judiciary, and even attempts to curtail free speech through the Hate Speech Policy and restriction of NGO activities.

He urged the government to free up the civic space for citizens no matter their class to freely exercise their fundamental rights.