Frontline civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has selected the immediate past Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, as an ICON OF HUMAN RIGHTS “for his tremendous contributions to ending insecurity in Nigeria”. Also nominated as ICON OF HUMAN RIGHTS in the area of good governance is former Senate President and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim. Anyim was nominated “following his illustrious services rendered to Nigeria and Nigerians in his former positions in government and for his mentorship of hundreds of youngsters to embrace good governance standards.’

Making the announcement in Abuja on Tuesday, HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said in a statement that more than any other governor of any of the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory, the erstwhile governor of the Crude oil rich Rivers State implemented a robust and workable template that virtually wiped off sophisticated crimes from the face of Rivers State for the duration that Mr Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi served Rivers State as the governor.

HURIWA specifically stated that the rights group is impressed by the phenomenal commitment of the then governor Amaechi’s administration to invest substantially in surveillance and combating crimes through the use of 21st century compliant technology such as drones and helicopters just as the formidable partnership and synergy between all arms of the armed forces in Rivers State contributed to bringing down crime rate in Rivers State then. HURIWA praised Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi for creating the enabling environment that made Rivers State’s people to act as useful partners of the administration in the fight against crimes and criminality and for the trust and confidence the government engendered in the minds of the people regarding the anonymity the intelligence they volunteer to the security forces whenever they perceive that a crime is about to be committed.

“HURIWA is pleased that for Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, the solution to crime is to give people responsibility and make them have a source of revenue. This he said is because once people have a source of income, crime will reduce. So, the solution to crime is to create jobs and create source of revenue because if you don’t create that source of revenue for them, they would create for themselves.

“Rotimi Amaechi rightly believed that if you don’t grow an economy that accommodates the people, that is inclusive and accommodates everybody, somebody who isn’t part of that economy will create one for himself,” he said. Amaechi, who identified land reclamation as a key factor in the development of Bayelsa and much of Niger Delta region, did assure that he would massively reclaim land to attract development in the region and he implanted that campaign promise as the then Governor of Rivers State.

HURIWA said Senator Anyim, the former Senate President and one time Secretary to the Government of the Federation, is one of the few young Nigerians that excelled in his place of primary leadership position both as the Scribe of the then Federal government and the head of the National Assembly just as the Rights group praised Anyim Pius Anyim for manifesting the virtues of openness, transparency and effective management of human and financial resources as a Federal government appointee.