The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said on Thursday that 10,884 people were displaced across nine states between January and February this year.
This shows “a persistent and growing protection crisis”, the Executive of the NHRC, Tony Ojukwu, said during a dashboard presentation on the protection of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
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Mr Ojukwu, who was represented by the Director of Legal Services of the NHRC, Rabi Anwar, lamented that the displacement was driven by insecurity across nine states monitored by the commission.
The states are Kano, Akwa Ibom, Yobe, Borno, Taraba, Katsina, Adamawa, Benue and Cross River.
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Benedict Agwu, the head of monitoring and the special assistant to NHRC’s executive secretary, said the commission it monitored only nine states, down from the previous 11, as a result of funding challenges.
“Our sponsors are not able to continue to allow the presence in those 11 states,” hence, only nine states were monitored. Sokoto and Zamfara states were dropped.
With 4,178 in Benue and 3,411 in Borno, the NHRC said, the two states led the group of nine with the highest number of IDPs within the period under focus.
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Providing contexts, Mr Ojuwku attributed the the high incidence to “the repeated attacks on farming communities in Benue.” This, he said, led “to long-term displacement due to the loss of livelihoods, and the repeated rural attacks by insurgencies in Borno, triggering population movement and restricted access to farming.”
In 2021, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) echoed Mr Ojukwu’s reasons for internal displacement, citing attacks by Boko Haram and other non-state armed groups as well as clashes between herders and farmers as the major drivers.
UNHCR noted that 3 million Nigerians were IDPs, particularly in parts of the North-east, Middle Belt, “but increasingly also in North-west Nigeria.”
In June 2025, NHRC, in collaboration with the UNHCR, launched the dashboard presentation on internal displacement.
Refugees, asylum seekers, and returnees
The dashboard also revealed the number of refugees, asylum Seekers, and returnees across the nine states.
Presenting the report, Mr Agwu disclosed 527 asylum seekers, 1,159 refugees, and 2,213 returnees.
Tragically, children made up these populations, including among the IDPs.
A total of 6003 representing 36% of the total IDP population of children, were internally displaced.
In Benue State, 2,355 children were displaced, followed by Borno with 1,648, Yobe with 556, Taraba with 538, Kano with 389, Adamawa with 280, Katsina with 185, and Cross River with 52.
Similarly, the commission recorded 1,129 children as refugees, 375 asylum seekers and 2,094 returnees, representing 95 per cent of the entire returnees.
Human rights violations faced by IDPs
According to Mr Agwu, the IDPs faced several violations, including the freedom of movement, social cohesion, rights to asylum, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and documentation problems.
Also, these rights were violated: child protection cases, safety and security, access to socio-economic rights, access to health, and education.
Cumulatively, 5,048 human rights cases amongst IDPs were documented.
Among these, the right to access to education was the most prevalently violated, and this was mostly in Yobe; 2,351, including access to socio-economic rights; 191, and access to health; 541.
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Concerning the violation of access to education, Mr Ojukwu described it as “a catastrophic situation and a great concern for the future of many children.”
The report said 59 IDPs experienced gender-based-violence in Borno, 82 faced documentation problems in Katsina, 87 faced safety and security issues, and 120 IDPs experienced child protection cases in Adamawa.
Progress report
However, the commission tackled 374 cases and referred 5,061 to other agencies.
It also said it conducted 69 monitoring visits to detention centres across police and military facilities, reaching 362 detainees to ensure their rights are respected.
Similarly, the commission its officials visited detention and conducted 502 community outreach sessions, reaching 9,185 individuals.
Mr Ojukwu expressed converns over prolonged detention, lack of feeding, and poor sanitation in detention facilities, particularly in Taraba and Benue.
However, he called for partnerships to cover the project’s expenses.
“Despite these achievements, the project faces unremitting challenges. We are also grappling with the high cost of incidental project expenses. For instance, the high cost of transport fare for the project team and security risks in hard-to-reach areas,” Mr Ojukwu said.
He welcomed the presidential assent to the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in March and hoped that it would address the issues of IDPs.
President Bola Tinubu signed the IDPs protection bill on 11 March.
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