The federal government has approved a Joint Council Memo of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development with the Ministry of Interior to end statelessness in Nigeria.
The approval was given at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held at the State House on Wednesday, which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In statement made available to Blueprint Thursday, which was signed by the Special Assistant to the minister on media to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Nneka Ikem Anibeze, in a jointly processed presentation by the two ministries, the Humanitarian Affairs Minister, Sadiya Umar Farouq, aligned with the submission earlier made by the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, reiterating that the approval of the national action plan will demonstrate Nigeria’s strong commitment to implementing the Abidjan Declaration of ECOWAS member states on the eradication of statelessness.
Umar Farouq also stated that COVID-19 had worsened the plight of millions of stateless persons worldwide and called on President Buhari to include and protect stateless populations by approving the National Action Plan.
She said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the critical need for greater inclusion and urgent resolution of situations which place individuals at risk of exclusion including statelessness.
“We have seen how devastating the impact of statelessness can be on the peace and security of a nation. A person who has no nationality has no legal protection and lacks enjoyment of fundamental human rights. Therefore, there is need for a National Action Plan to ensure that those unable to prove entitlement to citizenship are not excluded from access to basic services like health, education and protection through the elaborate actions set out in the draft National Plan of Action.”
The action plan, having been adopted by the Federal government, will now provide a framework to proactively address the risk factors of statelessness and possible cases of statelessness that exist in line with Commitment 24 of the Declaration, while Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that every individual has the right to a nationality.
The Declaration consists of 25 commitments made by ECOWAS member states to advance the commitment of its members under the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless persons and the 1961 convention on the reduction, prevention, identification and protection of stateless persons, resolution of existing stateless situations, strategies and partnerships in the fight against statelessness.
