As the world commemorates International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, former lawmaker representing Kaduna Central, Senator Shehu Sani has tasked the federal government to adequately compensate indigenous people of Abuja for the use of their land as Nigeria’s federal capital.
The human rights activist threw this challenge on Friday via his verified Twitter handle.
“#WorldIndigenousDay on this day I call on the FG and the nation to be fair and just to the indigenous people of Abuja.
“They should be adequately compensated for the use of their land and should not be marginalized in the distribution of political appointments & amenities”, he tweeted.
According to the United Nations, there are an estimated 370 million indigenous people in the world, living across 90 countries.
It said they make up less than 5 per cent of the world’s population, but account for 15 per cent of the poorest and they speak an overwhelming majority of the world’s estimated 7,000 languages and represent 5,000 different cultures.
Adding his voice on this day, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres said, “The United Nations stands ready to support all initiatives aimed at realizing the rights and aspirations of indigenous peoples”.
This year’s theme is ‘Indigenous Languages’ and will focus on the current situation of indigenous languages around the world within the framework of the 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages.
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