The National Committee Against Torture (NCAT), a civil society organization, on Wednesday called on relevant authorities to pay compensation to victims tortured by the police.
The organisation said the government should pay victims of police brutality to discourage men and officers of force from the act.
Chairman of NCAT, Samson Ameh, who made the call in Abuja on Wednesday, noted that “torture” is evil and as such all stakeholders must come to together to eradicate the evil or reduce it to its nearest minimum.
Ameh was speaking at a capacity building workshop for police officers on the Anti-Torture Act and other legislations that prohibit torture at the Ministry of Justice, Abuja.
The workshop was organised by Access to Justice in collaboration with NCAT.
While noting that the workshop was aimed at sensitising the Police Force on the need to eradicate the use of torture in the nation’s criminal justice system, Ameh said it was high time the issue of compensation to victims was considered.
“If someone has been a victim of torture, he should be compensated by the government or the person who tortured him. That should be a step forward,” he said. “We should think of how to ensure that victims of torture are compensated.”
Ameh, who remarked that the Police Act does not recognise torture, expressed regret that people hardly report cases of torture.
He also regretted that while in other climes citizens observe the law, in Nigeria the law is not only being enforced but physically too, adding that there is need for people to have an understanding of the law so as to properly observe it.
