Ben Ezechime, Enugu
As the world marks International Human Rights Day 2025, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has decried the worsening state of human-rights protection in Nigeria, attributing the trend to systemic governance failures that continue to deny citizens the dignity, security, and freedoms guaranteed to them by virtue of their humanity and citizenship.
In a statement signed by its Director of Media and Communication, Mr. Robert Egbe, the organisation said state neglect, abuse of power, impunity among law-enforcement agencies, widespread insecurity, and deepening socio-economic hardship are eroding the rights of millions and widening the gap between political promises and lived reality.
CAPPA urged authorities at all levels to end impunity for security-force abuses; protect journalists, activists and human-rights defenders; prioritise citizens’ safety; address socio-economic conditions driving mass suffering; strengthen national institutions; and build a national culture anchored on care and respect for human rights.
“2025 has been a year of grim reminders,” the statement reads.
“From the 570 killings and 278 kidnappings reported across the country in April alone, to the 275,256 human-rights abuse complaints documented in May by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Nigerians continue to endure levels of violence, deprivation and state neglect that are incompatible with any notion of a rights-respecting society.”
The organisation highlighted persistent, grave and systemic violations—including abuses of women’s and girls’ rights and mass abductions—adding that the state continues to fail in preventing targeted attacks on communities, schools and vulnerable groups.
According to CAPPA, citizens nationwide are confronted with overlapping crises: civil and political rights under sustained pressure, socio-economic rights collapsing, and insecurity and communal violence escalating. The statement noted that peaceful protesters still face lethal force and arbitrary arrests, with no accountability for the 24 unarmed citizens killed during the 2024 #EndBadGovernance demonstrations—abuses that, it said, continue to cast a long shadow over 2025.
Journalists and media professionals, CAPPA added, remain targets of intimidation, harassment and detention, with about 69 attacks recorded this year—74 percent allegedly perpetrated by state actors, according to a 2025 Media Rights Agenda (MRA) report.
“When those charged with protecting rights become their violators, democracy itself is endangered,” the statement warned.
It further underscored the plight of millions who lack access to essential needs such as safe water, decent housing, adequate healthcare and secure livelihoods. Rising inflation, pervasive insecurity and the absence of social protection, CAPPA said, have left families increasingly vulnerable—conditions it described not only as economic challenges but as urgent human-rights emergencies.
The organisation called on the Federal Government and all duty-bearers to take decisive steps to “reverse the dangerous trajectory of rights violations and emergencies in Nigeria.”
It emphasised that International Human Rights Day provides an opportunity to reflect on how far the country has drifted from the basic guarantees it owes its people. Nigeria, it said, cannot continue on a path where violence is normalised, institutions collapse without consequence, and citizens are left to navigate insecurity and deprivation with limited protection from the state.
“People have the right to safety, justice and dignity,” CAPPA reaffirmed.
“These are obligations the Nigerian state must meet. A credible response requires honesty about what is broken and a renewed commitment to rebuilding systems that restore them.”
The organisation added that progress will require sustained, practical reforms that safeguard civic freedoms, strengthen oversight of security agencies, bolster the capacity of human-rights institutions and confront the socio-economic conditions that heighten community vulnerability.
The statement concluded by urging government, civil society and partners across sectors to pursue practical, collaborative solutions aimed at rebuilding trust, closing protection gaps and enabling Nigerians to live without fear, deprivation or uncertainty.
