Nigeria Police Force has directed its personnel to promote and respect the rights of citizens in the discharge of their professional duties.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Training and Development, Emmanuel Inyang, gave the order in Calabar during a sensitisation workshop for police officers in Cross River, in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime,UNODC, and the European Union.

Inyang said the training became necessary following complaints in some quarters that the police were violating the human rights of the civil populace.

According to him, the workshop is organised to offer police personnel with the necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes to effectively discharge their duties in accordance with the rule of law and in compliance with human rights best practices.

He said the national roll out of the human rights training programme would ensure the message of protection and promotion of human rights gets to every officer of the police regardless of rank, saying the police was committed towards the protection and promotion of the human rights of the civil populace.

The Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Training and Development, who spoke through Cross River Commissioner of Police, Jimoh Ozi-Obeh, said he believed that after the training workshop, police officers would be better equipped with skills and knowledge in the discharge of their professional duties.

Project Officer of UNODC, Ukamaka Osigwe, said the partnership with the police was to support the Justice Sector in Nigeria, saying the training would increase access to justice and respect for human rights and the rule of law, especially for disadvantaged and vulnerable members of the society.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 1, states that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Human rights principles are built on the idea that all human beings have inherent human dignity.

She said everyone must therefore refrain from infringing upon that dignity. Everyone must also act to protect the human dignity of others and of themselves.

Also, Coordinator, Nigeria Police Human Rights Training Project, Uju Agomoh, said no fewer than five hundred police officers were trained last year in human rights protection and promotion.

According to Agomoh, the project, which is for five years, from twenty-fifteen to twenty-twenty, will ensure the effective training of police personnel in the protection and promotion of human rights.

She said the workshop was timely because Nigeria needed to reckon with other countries in the protection and promotion of human rights.