Rivers Assembly, NHRC Push For Cleaner Niger Delta Environment

Rivers State House of Assembly and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) have begun moves to ensure that a cleaner environment becomes the right of the Niger Delta people.

The speaker of the Assembly, Rt.   Hon. Martins Amaewhule, disclosed this yesterday in Port Harcourt at a one-day training for legislators on “mainstream human rights and human rights impact assessment into the legislative process and legislation.”

Amaewhule, through his deputy, Rt.  Hon. Dumle Maol, said the House had been at the forefront of enacting human rights laws that have impacted the people since the return of democracy in 1999.

He said, “As we interact today, I assure you that Rivers State House of Assembly will not relent on our achievements in the past, and we are poised for renewed challenges as our mandate as a House.”

In his welcome address, NHRC’s executive secretary, Tony Ojukwu, described the legislature as the guardian of democratic governance, noting that every point in legislation has the potential to protect rights and opportunities or restrict them.

Ojukwu stated that the commission was firmly committed to working with the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly, as well as other relevant institutions, to strengthen rights-based governance in Nigeria.

“The legislature is the guardian of democratic government. The quality of any democracy is reflected not only in the number of laws it produces but also in the quality, inclusiveness, and human rights compliance of those laws. Every piece of legislation has the potential to either expand rights and opportunities or unintentionally restrict them.

“For instance, laws shape access to justice, education, healthcare, housing, security, likelihoods, and civic participation. Consequently, every bill, whether private or executive, deserves rigorous scrutiny before it becomes law;s scrutiny is not merely an exercise in fulfilling legal requirements, but one aimed at genuinely ensuring that such bills meet all legal criteria before they are passed into law.

“We are not blinded to the challenges that confront legislative practice across many jurisdictions, including us. Too often, bills are considered under significant time constraints, with limited empirical evidence, insufficient human rights analysis and inadequate engagement with those who will ultimately be affected.

“Public heating, though constitutionality and democratically significant, sometimes becomes a procedural formality  rather than a genuine opportunity for meaningful public participation.”