By Francesca Hangeior
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has lamented the rising increase in human rights violations in Nigeria.
Senior Adviser to the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Mr Hilary Ogbonna, expressed his worries at the inauguration of the maiden edition of human rights dashboard and observatory.
According to Ogbonna, the observatory is to record the daily human rights complaints by Nigerians across the 36 states and the FCT.
”Nigeria faces multiple challenges in the protection and enjoyment of human rights for its citizens.
”Insecurity expressed in terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and other activities of non-state actors has posed challenges to the enjoyment of human rights across Nigeria.
”Economic, fiscal, and monetary reforms introduced by the new administration have increased socio-economic inequalities as Nigeria continues to battle with multi-dimensional poverty, impacting the enjoyment of human rights,” he said.
The dashboard, according to Ogbonna, is a monthly analysis and graphical presentation of human rights situation in Nigeria.
He added that the Human Rights Observatory was for monitoring, reporting, and analysis of human rights violations across Nigeria.
He added that it was also for the documentation, analysis, and dissemination of human rights complaints.
Presenting the dashboard, Ogbonna expressed regrets that the North-Central zone topped in rights violations, with Abuja having 382 out of 1147 complaints in January.
He disclosed that the figures represented only a fraction of rights violations in the country, as a large number of other violations went unreported.
In the distribution of complaints in January, domestic violence recorded 528; state actors 84, private sector actors 64; non-state actors 27; and right to life recorded 40.
He added that the North West had the highest number of domestic violence in the country.
Domestic violence, according to him, included wife battery, rape, child abandonment, and assault.
According to Ogbonna, the dashboard is the general human rights violations not reported but captured and analysed.
He added that the increase in kidnappings of children and young people was a soft target.
Ogbonna lamented that the situation on the plateau and the attack on traditional institutions like what happened in Ekiti State were of concern to the commission.
“Based on our analysis, 150 kidnapping cases were recorded in January, including 55 killings, 15 hate speeches, and the killing of seven law enforcement agents,” NHRC said.
He added that 10 children were victims of torture.
He pointed out that the NHRC had the mandate to investigate human rights violations in the country.