Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has been awarded a grant to lawfully advocate the rights of original inhabitant (OI) communities in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Development Diaries understands that the grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is part of roughly $80 million in awards that the foundation in support of its Equitable Recovery initiative, which is centered on advancing racial and ethnic justice.
Nigeria’s military government in 1976 declared the country’s capital would move from Lagos to Abuja.
They were thousands of people, belonging to about nine ethnic groups with different languages, living in Abuja at the time.
When construction of the new capital began, many were forced off their lands by the federal government or pressured to sell to private citizens and businesses.
‘We have continued to comply, even at the expense of our ancestral land. Even at the expense at the poverty that our people suffer over the years’, Voice of America (VOA) quoted Spokesperson for the Coalition of FCT Indigenous Groups, Yunusa Yusuf, as saying in 2016.
With the grant from the MacArthur Foundation, CHRICED is expected to enable the OI communities to work towards an inclusive, resilient and sustainable development pathway, especially in the context of the devastation imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘CHRICED expresses its gratitude to MacArthur Foundation for entrusting us with this historic responsibility’, the civil society organisation (CSO) said in a statement.
‘As an organisation campaigning for human rights and justice, we are excited about this opportunity to work with the natives of the FCT.
‘Our project will respond to the marginalisation and the historic injustices meted against FCT OIs by putting their issues in the fore front of the governance and decision making processes.
‘CHRICED will support the original inhabitant groups (OIGs) with the technical skills and capacities to enable them to sustainably and effectively campaign for their rights and interests’.
President of the MacArthur Foundation, John Palfrey, reiterated the foundation’s commitment to supporting the systems that create a more just, equitable, and resilient world.
‘As we emerge from this moment of crisis, we have an opportunity to improve the critical systems that people and places need to thrive. Our systems and structures must be rebuilt’, Palfrey said.
The initiative, issued in response to the crises of the pandemic and racial inequity, is funded by MacArthur’s social bonds.
Source: CHRICED
Photo source: Jeff Attaway