INVESTIGATING THE CHALLENGES THAT INHIBITED THE SUCCESS OF NIGERIA’S HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS INVESTIGATION COMMISSION

 

Oluwatosin R. Ifaloye^1*, Sheriff F. Folarin² & Moses M. Duruji³

¹Department of Political Science and International Relations, Covenant University, Nigeria, oluwatosin.ifaloye@stu.cu.edu.ng

²Department of Political Science and International Relations, Covenant University, Nigeria, sheriff.folarin@covenantuniversity.edu.ng

³Department of Political Science and International Relations, Covenant University, Nigeria, moses.duruji@covenantuniversity.edu.ng

*Corresponding Author 

 

Abstract

The Oputa Panel received an extensive and dominant mandate which was to find the causes and repercussions of all the severe human rights abuses that ensued as a result of the military’s interference in governance from January 15, 1966 to May 28, 1999 when the military quit the political scene for a democratically elected government. Also, the commission was authorised to write a report on its findings and make appropriate recommendations for judicial, administrative and legislative reforms that would deal with human rights violations in the country. Theoretically, this was a powerful commission with a strong mandate. However, in reality, it was not backed with adequate funding, sufficient legal power and support from the government to carry out the mandate. This paper employed qualitative method to enunciate the issues that affected the operations and results of the Oputa Panel.  In light of these factors that limited the impact of the Commission, the paper drew suitable recommendations to ensure that truth commissions established in Africa are more effective in addressing past human rights violations and promote reconciliation. One of such is increased pressure and participation from both domestic and international human rights community to promote accountability. 

Keywords: Challenges, Human rights, Nigeria, Oputa Panel, Transitional Justice, Truth Commissions.