Insecurity, hardship threatening human rights progress — Ojukwu

The Executive Secretary of the National Hunan Rights Commission (NHRC) Dr Tony Ojukwu, SAN, has warned that Nigeria’s progress in human rights protection is being hampered by worsening insecurity and economic hardship.

Ojukwu said this known during the presentation of a Dashboard report for April on violations of human rights in Nigeria .

He said these combined factors heavily restrict citizens’ rights to life, dignity, and a decent standard of living.

The executive secretary said that acts of of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and communal violence severely restrict the fundamental right to freedom of movement.

Ojukwu also said economic hardship have spiked living costs, pushing vulnerable populations deeper into marginalization and severely limiting access to healthcare and basic services.

He noted that since the introduction of the Human Rights Situation Dashboard in 2024, the Commission has continued to strengthen transparent and evidence-based human rights monitoring in Nigeria.

Ojukwu noted further that the Dashboard remains an important accountability tool for identifying trends, emerging risks, and areas requiring urgent intervention.

” For the month of April 2026, the Commission recorded a total of 266,787 complaints from across our offices nationwide.

” These complaints reflect the everyday realities faced by Nigerians and underscore the persistence of challenges relating to discrimination, insecurity, abuse of authority, economic
hardship, and access to justice.

” Beyond complaints formally received by the Commission, the Human Rights Observatory continues to monitor broader patterns of violations across the country.

” In April 2026, the human rights situation remained shaped by insecurity, communal tensions, economic hardship, and concerns around civic freedoms.

” Violent attacks, kidnappings, communal clashes, and displacement, gender-based violence, mob actions, and alleged abuses linked to law enforcement activities remained major concerns during the period under review” he said.

The commission, he said, is particularly concerned about the recent air strike incident in Borno State
which reportedly resulted in civilian casualties.

Also of similar concern Ojukwu said, is the rise in extra-judicial killings by law enforcement and security
agencies.

He noted that the Commission In the month of April, in their Observatory recorded over five of such cases.

” Human life is sacred and cannot be taken away by trigger happy officers of our law enforcement and security agencies.

” We welcome actions taken by the Inspector General of Police and call for swift prosecution of all cases and compensation paid to the victims’ families” he said

Earlier, the Executive Director of the Nigerian Network of NGOs, Mr Oyebisi Oluseyi, called for protection of citizens’ rights, especially freedom of expression.

Oluseyi said the advisory document was designed to provide tools that would support a society where citizens can freely claim their rights.

The Senior Human Rights Advisor to the Commission, Dr Hillary Ogbonna, presented the Dashboard report.

Ogbonna said the presentation was to showcase the Commission’s activities and demonstrate human rights interventions.

He said human rights complaints received by the Commission increased marginally in April 2026, with continued reports of mass killings across the country, particularly in the northern region.

Ogbonna noted that the top 10 states with human rights complaints were the Federal Capital Territory, Benue, Borno, Kaduna, Niger, Plateau, Imo, Sokoto, Bauchi and Kogi.

He also provided further breakdown of the report, comparing the top 10 states with the rest of the country.

He said the top 10 states accounted for 76 per cent of human rights complaints recorded during the period under review, while the remaining states accounted for 28 per cent of complaints.

Ogbonna also said sexual and gender-based violence cases were recorded among the complaints.

He said the top ten states, referred to as the G10, also featured prominently in cases of general human rights violations.

Ogbonna added that the G10 states were also among the highest in violations of children’s rights, killings and kidnappings.

He said killings were rated at 423 cases, while kidnapping was recorded at 327 cases.

Ogbonna said the incidents were carried out by bandits, Boko Haram insurgents and unknown gunmen.

He also said killings and kidnappings increased in April compared to March, adding that no decisive action had been taken to address the incidents.

He said human rights violations also included abuses against children, such as abduction of children and abandonment of newborns.

He also said cases of sexual violence against children were recorded.

He said major cases of abduction were recorded in Kaduna, Niger, Kogi and Cross River States.

He said cases of sexual violence against children were recorded in Nasarawa, Ogun, Abia, Edo and Ondo States.

The highlight was the presentation and signing of the Advisory on protecting civic space andhumanrights .