Shadow Report on Nigeria’s Compliance with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Form of Racial Discrimination
Introduction
This report is being submitted to the experts of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination as a shadow report to the combined periodic report of the state of Nigeria by the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP).
The MOSOP was formed in 1990 as one of the leading organizations in Nigeria fighting for the promotion and protection of minority rights, indigenous peoples rights and environmental justice and in recent years has been actively involved in activities aimed at promoting democratic accountability, equality and transparency at the grassroots of society especially in Ogoni and neighbouring minority territories in the Niger Delta.
It is however the conclusion of MOSOP that it is the responsibility of the state parties to ensure the implementation of anti-discrimination programmes at all levels of government from the national, state to the local administrations.
This Shadow Report attempts to fill the gaps in the combined periodic reports of the Nigerian government. As a supplement, it is intended that this report will assist the CERD committee to have a balanced view of the state of ICERD’s compliance in Nigeria by determining the extent the government has conformed to its obligations under the convention.
This report examines articles 1-7 against the backdrop of the government’s report. The government report attempts to give a holistic picture of the situation but this is far from the truth. Reports indicate that ICERD is partially operational in Nigeria as ethnicity is a fact of life and the close your ethnic group is to power, the easier your access to socio-economic opportunities.
Unfortunately, this has been the lot of Nigeria’s minorities whose peripherisation in Nigeria’s political development has ensured that they hardly come close to power any day in the country.
