The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has launched a quarterly dashboard presentation on internal displacement.
The dashboard reported 44,295 displacements, with 1,460 individuals complaining of human rights violations from February to April 2025.
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The Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Tony Ojukwu, stated this on Tuesday in Abuja.
He explained that the dashboard was needed due to the “scourge of internal and forced displacements” and that it was aimed at “providing monitoring and collation of information, including data on mandate population, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), asylum seekers, refugees, and attention to human rights issues affecting these populations to promote, protect and enforce their rights.”
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Some of the IDPs are reported to be displaced due to floods.
Mr Ojukwu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, expressed concern about the recent floods in Mokwa, Niger State, noting that the “devastation highlights the urgent need for coordinated disaster preparedness and response planning.”
In April, the Nigerian government warned that approximately 1,249 communities in 30 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are at high risk of flooding this year.
Despite the warning, floods claimed the lives of at least 151 persons and the displacement of 3000 residents of Mokwa in May, PREMIUM TIMES reported.
Issues presented on the dashboard
While presenting the dashboard report, Benedict Agwu, the special assistant to the ES and Head of Monitoring, explained that the January report was not reflected due to planning and preparation.
According to Mr Agwu, the complaints by the IDPs stemmed from difficulties in accessing food and non-food items, justice, health education, Gender-based Violence (GBV) and infringement of socioeconomic rights,
However, he highlighted that the figures for the displacement did not reflect the entire number of displaced persons in the country.
Mr Agwu explained that the data was collated from 11 states and 34 local government areas affected by insurgency from Boko Haram and Lakurawa, herder-farmer clashes, accidental air strikes by the military in Zamfara, Sokoto and Kaduna States, impacts of climate change, closure of camps, inter-communal clashes in Cross-River and Akwa Ibom, floods, and natural disasters.
In March, communal clashes erupted in the riverine communities of Oku Iboku, Itu Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State and Ikot Offiong, in Cross River State, claiming two lives.
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Internal displaced persons by states
The NHRC gathered data from Borno, Yobe, Adamawa Taraba, Benue, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, and Sokoto States.
It said 553 persons were displaced in Adamawa, 252 in Akwa Ibom, 14,905 in Benue, 5,086 in Borno, 730 in Cross River, 1,458 in Kano, 4,657 in
Katsina, 7,090 in Sokoto, 3,005 in Taraba, 3,482 in Yobe and 3,077 in Zamfara.
It said 20,648 children who were displaced.
Progress report by the NHRC
Mr Agwu stated that the NHRC would continue to monitor the cases by physically visiting the centres where displaced persons were kept.
He disclosed that the commission had already visited 58 detention centres in February, 40 in March and 26 centres in April.
