Tuesday, September 2, 2025 - Some human rights activists have raised concerns over the situation of human rights abuse in Nigeria and the need for the government to do something about it.
They are worried that the legal and institutional protections and guarantees of human rights are not fully assured and do not really exist. They regretted that Nigeria’s most committed advocates for youths, women, and children are doing the work the state promises, but too often fail to keep kids safe, demand justice for survivors of abuse, and push back against exclusion.
“Yet these defenders are meeting a wall of intimidation—from mobs, from laws wrongly applied against activists and from a reflex of official silence.
“The result is a chilling effect: fewer voices and programmes reaching vulnerable people, and a civic space that keeps shrinking when it should be widening,” the group said.
According to rights activists, Ekong Bassey, the government’s failure to address rights violations “seriously emboldens impunity, and it goes beyond what is happening in Nigeria.
“Whenever there is no consequence for bad behaviour, then
there is certainly a very real possibility of a repeat. Nigeria has glossed
over impunity for years and the consequences are now with us.
Several unsolved assassinations (including a former attorney
general), the bombing of a renowned editor, the kidnapping of schoolchildren,
and the list goes on.
“If there is no serious action to curb these menaces, then others feel emboldened to not only do more but improve on the methodologies,” he said.
Even though Ekong-Bassey said the idea of state-endorsed rights abuse “is a bit
far-fetched in Nigeria,” he, however, added that “ordinary Nigerians see
pronouncements from our highest courts as situations of rights abuses.”
“From Kano to Plateau and many other elective positions,
there is a pall in the confidence level that Nigerians have in their
government.
“A major intervention in the judicial sector is needed to
signal some hope to the people. The opposite is total despondency, anarchy, and
distrust.
“Whilst traditional concepts of human rights are still a far
cry from the government, there is almost total stagnation in other areas,
including rights to education, power supply, job availability, clean water,
adequate health care, a sound economy, etc.
“Kidnapping, banditry, poor economic management, and many
more are activities that the government has yet to tackle. The present
government, despite the goodwill with which it came to power, is yet to tackle
these issues,” he declared.
He cited the case of Dorothy Njemanze, a women’s rights
advocate, who, with three others, won a landmark 2017 ECOWAS Court judgment
after arbitrary arrests and abuse by the authorities that profiled them as sex
workers.
According to him, the court found out that Nigeria violated
Dorothy’s rights and ordered systemic fixes—training police, specialised units,
and genuine enforcement.
“Nearly eight years on, the case still reads like a to-do
list. Survivors continue to report harassment and impunity remains stubborn.
When activists spend years relitigating settled principles, time and energy are
dissipated.
“Youth advocates who organised or documented police abuse
during and after #EndSARS face surveillance, arrests, and smear campaigns. Rinu
Oduala—one of the most visible organisers—has said plainly that lack of reform
keeps young people afraid of extortion, torture, and extra-judicial killings.
“Fear doesn’t just silence dissent; it throttles youth-led
civic projects and mentorship pipelines that should be flourishing in a country
this young,” he said
The group noted that Folashade Onoabhagbe, a lawyer,
mediator, and child rights advocate, also faced threats linked to her outspoken
campaigns. Her work, they stated, uses media to spotlight abuse,
exploitation, and neglect, yet instead of institutional backing, she has
encountered intimidation meant to silence her advocacy.
“Such threats don’t just endanger her personally—they shrink
the already limited space available for child protection advocacy, leaving more
Nigerian children without the support they need,” the activist emphasised.
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