Nigeria, Venezuela sign MoU on protection, promotion of human rights

Nigeria and Venezuela on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the exchange of programmes and practices on the protection and promotion of human rights.

The Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Mr Tony Ojukwu, SAN, signed on behalf of Nigeria while the Venezuelan ambassador to Nigeria, Amb. David Caraballo signed on behalf of Venezuela.

Ojukwu said that the violation of human rights is the same all over the world.

In his words, “We have different departments handling different things, this makes it easier for us to work effectively and efficiently in many areas of the promotion and protection of rights.

“Human rights violation is the same all over the world and we are happy to have this collaboration.

“We have similar departments like yours and the work is so challenging.”

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Ojukwu told the envoy that appointment into the office of the Executive Secretary is done by the President.

Ojukwu further said the collaboration would open many doors to learning new things between the two institutions.

In his response,  Caraballo, who led the delegation, said there is a good bilateral relationship between the two countries in many areas.

“There has been a long history of the relationship between Venezuela and Nigeria,” he said.

Speaking earlier, the Ombudsman, Alfrudo Angulo whose position is similar to the Executive secretary of NHRC, said the Venezuelan human rights institution was created in 1999.

He said human rights are for everyone and must be taken seriously.

“Human right is for everyone and attention should be paid to the areas of torture and ill-treatment of the people.

“We are here, therefore, to sign this agreement to help us collaborate with each other to protect and promote human rights, ” he said.

Nigeria, Venezuela sign MoU on protection, promotion of human rights