CSO tasks govt to address social injustice, economic inequality

A Civil Society Organization has tasked the government and stakeholders to address the issues of social injustice, economic inequalities and religious instability to engender positive development in the country.

The CSO, Voice Nigeria Social Justice Community, said recent research indicates increased vulner­ability of the marginalised population and violation of human rights as well as injustice, which it says mostly affects the poor.

Program Coordinator, Voice Nigeria, Ijeoma Okwor during a press conference said stakeholders must work to ensure peace and development are emplaced in the country.

Unveiling a compendium of learning on social justice collated by the organisation, Okwor said evidence shared by many other CSO’s show that victims of human rights violations are targeted because of the social justice needs of the country.

“Over the past couple of months, organizations have shared their various learnings on social justice, which we found informative and have served as a guide to advocating for social justice. These rich resources have been put together into a learning resource and we hope it will be as informative to the wider society as it has been to the Community of Practice”, she added.

Meanwhile, another advocate, Obinna Nawgbara has expressed worry that despite the year 2020 public outcry on Police brutality, marginalized communities continue to face human rights violations and social injustice.

Nwagbara who heads the Youth and Students Advocates for Devel­opment Initiative (YSAD), said, “Despite the #EndSARS movement of 2020, violation of the rights of citizens is still on the increase, and it is important that more Nigerians are encouraged to move from bystanders to ac­tivists.

“Information obtained from the compendium indicates that insecurity has increased widely at the national level in the country. It is important for all Nigerians to speak up against injustice.

Nwagbara said, “the compendium is a collection of ex­periences of those whose interventions centre on human rights abuses by law enforcement agents.