By Folusho Alade, Abuja
…Human Rights Monitors reached 10,884 Internally Displaced Persons and 3,754 Households- Ojukwu
… 6,003 children, representing 36% of the total IDP population reached- Report
The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, has expressed worry over the increasing cases of human rights violations of Forcibly Displaced Persons FDPs in the country, saying data for the months of January-February 2026 show a persistent and growing protection crisis.
Speaking on Thursday 2nd, April, 2026 while presenting the January-February 2026 human rights situation dashboard in Abuja the executive secretary of the National Human Rights Commission NHRC, Dr Tony Ojukwu, SAN,OFR, said the commission’s human rights monitors reached a total of 10,884 internally displace persons across 3,754 households with children population of over 6,000 with Benue and Borno states recording the highest in numbers.
Ojukwu, said the commission is not relenting in its efforts in the ‘Protection of Human Rights of Forcibly Displaced Persons through Information/Data Collection and Documentation in Nigeria’ initiative, spotlighting the plights of IDPs, Returnees, Refugees and Asylum Seekers tracked from January to February 2026.
In his words: “Our Human Rights Monitors reached a total of 10,884 Internally Displaced Persons and 3,754 Households. Children made up a total number of 6,003 individuals, representing a 36% of the total IDP population reached.
In terms of regional impact, Benue, with 4,178 IDPs, and Borno, with 3,411 IDPs, recorded the highest populations of displaced persons reached. The drivers behind these numbers remain the stark insecurity in these states.
“These include the repeated attacks on farming communities in Benue, leading 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.
“This presentation covers January and February. The Commission continues to highlight the protection environment for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Returnees across our nine (9) project states with the support of UNHCR.
“This month’s Dashboard presents a significant milestone in our shared effort to document, analyse, and respond to the changing human rights realities faced by Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Returnees across nine (9) project states. It also reinforces our commitment to evidence-based human rights protection, accountability, and policy engagement”, he said.
Highlighting a breakdown of the report, the ES disclosed that outside the IDPs, 527 Asylum Seekers were documented, mainly in Taraba and Borno, facing documentation and registration challenges, 1,159 Refugees were recorded by HRMs and CPAGs, with Taraba and Borno hosting the most documented refugee households and 2,119 Returnees were documented, of whom 95% were children.
Concerning human rights incidents and protection gaps, Ojukwu said the protection data present a bleak scenario of the protection risks as a total of over 5,048 human rights cases were documented across multiple areas. He said the most prevalent violations continue to be areas of; Access to Education, Access to Health Socio-Economic Rights (food and shelter), Freedom of movement, Gender-Based Violence, Child Protection and Safety and Security.
The Executive secretary said the human rights Commission’s field teams however managed and resolved 329 cases directly, and referred 4,719 cases to relevant MDAs for specialised intervention.
According to the Ojukwu: “69 monitoring visits to detention centres were conducted across police and military facilities, reaching 362 detainees to ensure their rights are respected. Major concerns include prolonged detention, lack of feeding, and poor sanitation in detention facilities, particularly in Taraba and Benue.
In addition, our teams conducted 502 community outreach sessions, reaching 9,185 individuals with vital information on human rights, GBV prevention, child protection, and reporting mechanisms. Cross River, Benue, Katsina, and Adamawa accounted for more than half of all beneficiaries, reflecting targeted engagement in high-risk areas.
Enumerating the challenges the commission and other stakeholders are facing in the course of the project, Ojukwu said :” 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.
He however underscores the urgent need to strengthen inter-agency coordination at Federal, State, and LGA levels, scale up protection services for children and survivors of GBV, address documentation gaps affecting asylum seekers and refugees, improve detention oversight and access to justice, and align humanitarian, development, and peace-building interventions to support durable solutions.
In conclusion, Ojukwu said the Commission remains committed to improving data quality, enhancing referral pathways, and promoting community-based human rights monitoring as a sustainable national mechanism.
While thanking the UNHCR for its continued technical and financial support, Ojukwu commended the efforts of Human Rights Monitors and Community Protection Action Groups members .
The National Human Rights Commission NHRC has the mandate to promote and protect human rights in Nigeria.
Since January 2024, the NHRC in partnership with UNDP, OHCHR and GANHRI has produced monthly dashboard on human rights situation.
The Dashboards contain data from complaints lodged at the NHRC 38 offices across Nigeria and human rights violations monitored through NHRC Human Rights Observatory.
NHRC Dashboard has presented situational data on the rights of Children, women and other vulnerable populations.
