Rights group to prosecute banks over employees rights voilation

By Innocent Anaba

The National Human Rights Commission has received the fiat of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Kaase Aondoakaa to initiate legal proceedings against a leading Nigerian Bank and a Multinational Construction Company for workplace violations of employee rights.

Chief Aondoakaa, who disclosed this in Geneva, when he deposited Nigeria’s National Action Plan for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (NAP) with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) warned that both government and corporate institutions that violate human rights must be held accountable, as impunity has no place under the current dispensation.

He described NAP as a comprehensive document, which identified practical steps that would be taken to promote the enjoyment of human rights by Nigerians.

He urged all stakeholders’ particularly corporate organisations and government Ministries, Departments and Agencies to play their parts in the implementation of the document.

Also speaking on the occasion the Executive Secretary National Human Rights Commission Roland Ewubare acknowledged the pervasiveness of workplace discrimination and vowed to confront the issue head on.

He said the Commission had received complaints from Nigerians removed from work because of their HIV status and announced that three prominent Senior Advocates of Nigeria  have offered pro bono services to prosecute some of these cases in court.

The Executive Secretary also said the Commission will mount a grassroots campaign against companies that treat Nigerian employees shabbily.

According to Mr Ewubare, ‘no corporation in Nigeria is above the law and no employee in any corporation registered in Nigeria is beneath the law.’