Follow Us on Google
From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has disclosed that 9,290 internally displaced persons (IDPs) located across 11 states are victims of a protection crisis.
This is contained in the October 2025 human rights dashboard of the commission, which covered 11 states: Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Taraba, Katsina, Kano, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Benue.
Executive Secretary of the commission, Dr Tony Ojukwu, SAN, in his opening remarks, mentioned Yobe and Benue states as epicentres, recording 2,047 and 1,850 IDPs respectively amid herder attacks, insurgent raids, and destroyed infrastructure, which impacted negatively on livelihoods.
The Executive Secretary was represented at the occasion by the Director, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Department, Mr Harry Obe.
The report also documented 215 asylum seekers facing difficulties in registration in Taraba and Cross River states, 583 refugees who are mostly in those states, and 472 returnees, 81% of whom were children struggling with reintegration in the available insecure areas.
According to the learned Silk, since early 2025, the UNHCR-backed project has reached over 15,000 individuals, with a 58% surge in violations against children, signalling worsening vulnerabilities from violence, climate shocks, and food insecurity.
The Chief Human Rights Officer of Nigeria stated that over 1,800 human rights violations emerged as top concerns: 530 cases of denied food and shelter in Benue, Taraba, and Kano; 278 freedom-of-movement restrictions tied to insecurity in Yobe; 195 gender-based violence incidents; and 324 barriers to education threatening a generation in Kano and Taraba.
He disclosed that NHRC field teams resolved 372 cases, referred 1,157 to agencies, conducted 104 detention visits reaching 326 detainees, and held 331 community outreaches for 6,551 people on GBV prevention and rights reporting.
Dr Ojukwu, who is also the President of the Network of National Human Rights Institutions in West Africa (NNHRI-WA), decried the persistent challenges faced by monitors, including transport shortages, data costs, and security risks, even as he commended their resilience and UNHCR’s support amid budgetary strains.
To address the various challenges in the protection of internally displaced persons, he urged federal and state governments to domesticate the Kampala Convention, integrate NHRC data into humanitarian plans, and bolster security for returnees, reaffirming the Commission’s push for data-driven protection for Nigeria’s 6.7 million displaced.
The human rights advocate called for strengthened inter-agency coordination at federal, state, and local levels to scale up child protection services, address GBV survivor needs, close documentation gaps for asylum seekers, and enhance detention oversight.
He pledged the commitment of the Commission to refining data quality, referral pathways, and community-based monitoring as national mechanisms, vowing to transform displacement “from despair to dignity” for millions left behind.
In his graphic presentation, Head of Human Rights Monitoring, Dr Benedict Agu, lamented the experiences of the IDPs in the face of the hydra-headed challenges associated with poor nutrition, healthcare, and other socio-economic challenges.
Dr Agu, who is also Special Assistant to the Executive Secretary, said that his team, in the process of executing this project, conducted awareness programmes on human rights in addition to carrying out interviews intended to thoroughly interrogate all the issues for better human rights and humanitarian protection.
