CHRICED Calls for Support to Enact Rights of Indigenous People of Abuja

Strategic Insights -

The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has urged stakeholders and experts to support the indigenous people of Abuja, pushing for policies that guarantee access to land, natural resources, and economic opportunities. The call came at the 18th Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Geneva, Switzerland. Dr. Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi, executive director of CHRICED, emphasized the need for legal recognition of Abuja's Original Inhabitants as Indigenous Peoples with full legal status and protections. He also stressed the importance of political inclusion, enabling their participation in democratic governance and the right to elect local and regional representatives.

Key Takeaways:

  • The indigenous people of FCT, Abuja, also known as Original Inhabitants (OIs), are facing systematic exclusion, land dispossession, political disenfranchisement, and cultural erasure, with a risk of extinction if urgent and decisive action is not taken.
  • The root of their suffering dates back to the military Decree No. 6 of 1976, which forcibly appropriated their ancestral lands to establish Nigeria's new capital.
  • Successive governments have failed to provide compensation, resettlement, or legal recognition, despite Supreme Court judgments affirming their rights.
  • The Nigerian government has failed to collect, disaggregate, and utilize data on the indigenous peoples of the FCT, despite research by bodies such as UNESCO and UNICEF affirming their presence and identity.
  • CHRICED is pushing for data sovereignty and the right to data as a cornerstone of indigenous peoples' self-determination and development.
  • The organization is advocating for policies that guarantee access to land, natural resources, and economic opportunities for the indigenous people of Abuja.
  • Dr. Zikirullahi urged stakeholders to support the indigenous people of FCT, Abuja, in their quest for justice and recognition.

Statistics:

  • Over 2 million indigenous people of FCT, Abuja, are at risk of extinction due to systematic exclusion, land dispossession, political disenfranchisement, and cultural erasure.
  • Nine tribes and seventeen chiefdoms are represented among the indigenous people of FCT, Abuja.
  • The military Decree No. 6 of 1976 forcibly appropriated the ancestral lands of the indigenous people of FCT, Abuja, to establish Nigeria's new capital.
  • Successive governments have failed to provide compensation, resettlement, or legal recognition to the indigenous people of FCT, Abuja, despite Supreme Court judgments affirming their rights.

Sources:

  • CHRICED (The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education)