NHRC offers to lead talks on religious freedom in Nigeria

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Monday stated its readiness to lead conversation about religious freedom in the country.

The commission also announced that it received 371,622 human rights complaints in September.

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Speaking during the NHRC’s September dashboard presentation, the Executive Secretary of the commission, Tony Ojukwu, cited ongoing controversy over allegation of genocide against Christians in Nigeria.

Mr Ojukwu noted that this provides an opportunity for a national conversation about the right to freedom of religion and its role in uniting Nigerians.

He said, “As Nigeria’s National Human Rights Institution, we are ready to lead in this conversation, and we call on government, non-state actors, and international development partners to join us in this regard.

“The NHRC is not unaware of the recent conversations on whether or not there exists a form of religious genocide in Nigeria. We believe that the situation presents an opportunity for national conversation on the normative and legal underpinnings of the right to freedom of religion as the invisible glue that holds the fabrics of Nigeria.”

Nigeria has recently come under intense scrutiny on the global stage over allegations of religous freedom violations. On that basis, there are calls for the United States government to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern. The protagonists cited alleged systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations. The Nigerian government, top officials and many respected voices including religious leaders have denied the claim. Although there is widespread insecurity in the country, the government said it does target religous groups.

United States Senator Ted Cruz has moved further to initiate a bill in the US Senate to compel the US government to redesignate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC). He blamed the Nigerian government for enabling the massacre of Christians.

Similarly, a former US mayor, Mike Arnold, published a series of reports that alleged the genocide. The Catholic World Report accepted this conclusion.

However, the government, through the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, refuted this claim, describing it as false, baseless, despicable, and divisive.

Nigeria was first designated a Country of Particular Concern during the first term of President Donald Trump. But the designation was lifted during the Joe Biden presidency.

Other complaints

The NHRC also presented its latest monthly chart of human rights violations.

It said 3,320 sexual and gender based violence cases in September.

The commission also recorded 607 cases of child abandonment, 295 cases of child marriage, 320 cases of child labour and 583 cases of child custody battle.

Geopolitically, the North Central recorded the highest number of incidents, 153,967, which Mr Ojukwu linked to “banditry, kidnapping, and road accidents.”

The North-west had 73,167, and North-east, 69,973 followed “with cases of terror attacks, abductions, and sexual violence.”

Mr Ojukwu said that human rights violations in the Southern part of the country were characterised by a mix of domestic violence, police abuses, mob actions, and fatal road accidents.

The South-east had 46,409 recorded cases, followed by South-south, 14,144, and lastly South-west with 13,967 cases.

The states with the most violations in September are Niger, Kwara, Plateau, Kogi, and Borno, largely due to insecurity, the NHRC said.

The NHRC said it included 6,813 investigations in September.

Mr Ojukwu lamented that September’s dashboard reaffirmed “that Nigeria’s human rights challenges remained deeply intertwined with insecurity, weak accountability systems, and social inequalities.”