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Nigeria: CDHR Faults FG's N80 Billion Rice Import Plan
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Vanguard (Lagos)
16 May 2008
Posted to the web 16 May 2008
Emma Amaize
COMMITTEE for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) in Delta State, yesterday, expressed alarm at the colossal sum of N80 billion recently approved by the Federal Government for the importation of rice into the country, positing that, "it is not a solution to the impending food crisis in the country.
"We opine that rather than spending the huge sum of N80 billion on rice importation, the Federal Government should spend same on the local production of rice and other food items nationwide.
As the present action of the Federal Government would only help to boost the economy of another country at the expense of boosting local food production in our nation," the state chairman, Oghenejabor Ikimi said in a press statement.
"We call on all the three tiers of Government to evolve practical ways of boosting food production instead of resorting to the importation of food items as importation is not the way out of the impending food crisis nationwide," the group added.
The CDHR also announced the discharge, for want of diligent prosecution, of seven prison inmates of the Federal Prisons, Warri, whose cases it took up under its CDHR prison inmates' legal aid programme. "The most pathetic of the cases was that of Garba Ali and Adamu Abu, both aged 21.
The duo were arraigned for an alleged offence of stealing an umbrella at the Magistrate Court, Agbarho and had been in prison custody since the 10th April, 2007 before the duo were discharged on the 14th May, 2008 for want of diligent prosecution, precisely after a year, two months and four days in prison custody.
The above scenario no doubt is a sad commentary about our justice criminal system which postulates that a person charged to court for a criminal offence remains innocent until proved guilty in a law court," it stated.
On the just concluded local government elections in the state, the group said: "We also use this medium to state that the recent claim by the Chairman of the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission, (DSIEC), and Retired Justice Samuel Jaho that the Local Government Elections in the state were free and fair, is an insult on Deltans.
"We were not surprised that the recently conducted Local Government Elections in Delta State were a fraud and a sham because we knew from the onset that the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) had no capacity to conduct a free and fair election as the Commission itself was under the control and supervision of the State Executive Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan.
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We hereby renew our call for the total scrapping of the 36 States Independent Electoral Commission including the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) in the interest of our nascent democracy at the grassroot level," the CDHR said.
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