By Kevwe Ebireri, Abuja

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP, Suleiman Abba, has pledged his commitment to respect the rights of Nigerians and directed all zones and commands across the country to sustain and uphold citizens rights.

Abba said this to commemorate the International Human Rights Day on Wednesday.

The IGP said his administration recently launched the Nigeria Police Force Human Rights Practice Manual, which was produced with support from Altus Global Alliance, Department of Foreign International Development, DFID, Cleen Foundation, Justice for All Nigeria, J4A and the Embassy of Switzerland in Nigeria.

He said the manual bears testament to the Force’s unflinching resolve to expose all personnel of the Police to practical and theoretical aspects of human rights based approaches to policing in conformity with global best practices.

Abba said that in addition, he created a human rights desk to be manned by officers in all the formations of the Nigeria Police Force.

The desk officers are tasked with ensuring that rights of suspects are protected and cared for, irrespective of class, creed and tongue.

“Consequently, the Police High Command is avowedly resolved to not only protect Human Rights but also do all that is humanly possible within the confines of established constitutional means, to ensure these rights remain inviolable as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution and in conformity with the ECOWAS, AU and the United Nations Declarations on Human Rights,” said Abba.

This year’s Human Rights Day slogan is “Human Rights 365”.

The United Nation’s General Secretary, Ban Ki-moon, said that idea of the slogan is that every day is a Human Rights Day and so governments should ensure that its citizens everywhere, at all times, are entitled to the full range of human rights.

“It is a reminder that everyone is entitled to basic rights with the same ideals and values – all year round. I call on states to honour their obligation to protect human rights every day of the year. I call on people to hold their governments to account,” said Ki-moon in a statement.