Nigeria continues to perform poorly on key human rights indicators, according to new data by the Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI), an independent global non-governmental organisation.
PREMIUM TIMES obtained the report on Thursday. The report pointed out significant shortfalls in government protections for civil liberties, personal security, and basic living standards.
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In its 2025 dataset, published via the Rights Tracker platform, HRMI rated Nigeria 3.2 out of 10 in the category of Safety from the State, which includes protection from arbitrary arrest, torture, enforced disappearance, extrajudicial execution, and the death penalty.
The report said all of these rights, except for the death penalty, fell within HRMI’s “bad” or “very bad” range.
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Freedom from arbitrary arrest received Nigeria’s lowest score in this category at 2.5, placing the country among the lowest ranked globally, alongside Mexico and Venezuela. Within Africa, Nigeria ranked third worst among the eight countries assessed, behind only Kenya and Mozambique.
“This is the first time we have produced civil and political rights data for Nigeria, and it is already clear that the government in Abuja has a long way to go in protecting the basic rights of its citizens,” said Nkosi Sibanda, HRMI’s East and Southern Africa Lead in a statement dated 17 June.
Spike in reported violations
The findings come as Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) continues to document a surge in reported violations. In May 2025, the commission said it recorded 275,256 cases, marking a five per cent increase from April’s figure of 261,483.
Presenting the May figures at the NHRC headquarters in Abuja, the Commission’s Executive Secretary, Tony Ojukwu, cited rising incidents of sexual violence and brutal attacks as among the most prevalent complaints.
“When over a quarter of a million people come to the NHRC in just one month, the message is loud and clear: too many Nigerians feel unprotected, unseen,” Mr Ojukwu said.
“What is most worrisome is the normalisation of this distress, where many no longer expect redress or accountability. This is a dangerous place for any society to find itself.”
The trend reflects a dramatic shift from just a year ago. The NHRC’s December 2024 report recorded 355,726 complaints, a sharp contrast to 1,147 complaints received in January 2024.
Mr Ojukwu attributed the surge to growing public awareness and trust in the commission.
“This dramatic surge is a testament to the growing awareness among Nigerians of their rights, and the trust they have placed in the Commission as a crucial avenue for seeking justice and redress,” he said.
Shrinking civic space
HRMI’s assessment also raised concerns in the Empowerment category, which covers freedoms of expression, assembly, association, religion, and democratic participation. Nigeria scored 4.5 out of 10, with all subcategories, except freedom of religion and belief—rated as “bad.”
Human rights experts surveyed by HRMI said that protesters, activists, Indigenous communities, and labour advocates remain highly vulnerable to repression.
The report cited crackdowns on demonstrators during the August 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests, as well as actions against #EndSARS, #RevolutionNow, #EndHunger, and Ebi np awa (“We Are Hungry”) movements.
“Many people who speak up or protest non-violently in Nigeria remain at risk of serious rights violations,” the report noted.
The NHRC has also linked the rise in violations to deteriorating economic conditions. In October 2024, the commission recorded 427,606 complaints—a 27 per cent increase over the previous month. That month also saw the highest number of killings and abductions, according to the commission’s Senior Human Rights Adviser, Hilary Ogbonna.
Mr Ogbonna explained that the spike was partly due to the explosion of a fuel tanker in Taura Local Government Area of Jigawa State, which killed 167 people. The tragedy occurred as residents attempted to scoop fuel from a fallen tanker.
“Because of economic hardship, people saw an opportunity to make a profit, which sadly led to their death,” Mr Ogbonna said.
“The security and welfare of the people is the primary duty of the government. It doesn’t matter whether they can read ‘inflammable’ or not. What is a mechanically unfit fuel tanker doing on a public road?”
Economic rights also in decline
In HRMI’s Quality of Life category, Nigeria’s scores were equally troubling. The country rated in the “very bad” range across all indicators—health, food, housing, and work—with particularly low figures for access to water (38.25%) and sanitation (46.6%).
“In many parts of Nigeria, especially urban centres, rent prices have soared—sometimes by over 100%—while wages remain stagnant,” said Kehinde Adegboyega, HRMI’s Nigeria Ambassador and Executive Director of the Human Rights Journalists Network.
“People are being pushed out of decent housing, forced to downsize, or even sell personal belongings just to survive.”
Mr Adegboyega urged the government to treat access to affordable housing as a fundamental right, not merely an economic policy issue.
HRMI’s Co-Executive Director, Thalia Kehoe Rowden, said the country has the resources to reverse these trends, but lacks the political will.
READ ALSO: June 12: #EndBadGovernance Movement begins protest in Lagos
“Our scores show that Nigeria has all the resources it needs to make very significant improvements in people’s lives,” she said.
“The government must fulfil its obligation to devote maximum available resources toward basic rights like education, healthcare, and food.”
About HRMI and the rights tracker
The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) is an independent non-profit that produces peer-reviewed, data-driven human rights assessments. Its Rights Tracker platform provides civil and political rights data for over 40 countries (2017–2024) and economic and social rights data for 195 countries (2000–2022), based on the award-winning SERF Index.
HRMI’s data are used by organisations including Amnesty International, the World Bank, and the United Nations. The full 2025 dataset is available at rightstracker.org.
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