Kogi, Plateau, 4 Others Record Highest Human Rights Violation Complaints In February – NHRC

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has disclosed that it recorded its highest human rights complaints for February from North Central Nigeria, comprising Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, and Plateau states.

The Senior Human Rights Adviser to the NHRC Executive Secretary, Hilary Ogbonna, revealed this on Wednesday in Abuja at the commission’s 2nd edition of its monthly dashboard on human rights.

The commission had earlier said that its monthly dashboard provides an overview of current human rights violations which the NHRC has collated across the 36 States of the federation including the FCT.

Ogbonna explained that while there were 1,484 complaints received by the commission in February across Nigeria, North Central recorded 481 complaints.

Ogbonna said the commission recorded 138 complaints from the North West geopolitical zone, 393 from North East, 179 from South-West, and 146 from South-East while the South South geopolitical zone had 149 complaints.

Ogbonna further noted that there were 550 complaints on child rights while 339 of them had to do with child abandonment.

Reasons for such abandonment were attributed to multidimensional poverty, among other factors.

Also, 370 domestic violence and assault complaints were recorded by the commission, among others.

Speaking at the event, the NHRC Executive Secretary, Dr. Tony Ojukwu, said in line with the commission’s mission of promoting and protecting human rights, the dashboard helps relevant stakeholders to develop ways to address existing human rights issues.

“The January dashboard which we presented last month revealed some interesting facts about the prevalence of domestic violence which had the highest percentage. The Feb. dashboard which will be presented to us shortly will reveal some interesting dimensional shifts of violations revealing another category of victims who are worst hit by the data generated for the month.

“The February 2024 Dashboard is a graphic representation of the state of human rights in the country. Beyond being indicting, it rather presents itself as a guide and a measurement of our progress to realizing the human rights of every Nigerian. It provides information that will trigger a chain of multi-faceted actions on tackling insecurity, poverty, and inequalities in Nigeria. For instance, the upsurge in violence, killings and kidnappings recorded in February should concern every arm of our government.

“The dashboard will also galvanize good collaboration between the commission, our partners, and all human rights actors in data sharing and open up spaces for interventions in particular areas of interest towards the advancement of the course of human rights in Nigeria,” he said.