The National Human Rights Commission said 621,414 human rights violations complaints were received in the first quarter of 2025.

The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr Tony Ojukwu, SAN said this at the presentation of the March dashboard report on human rights violations.

Mr Ojukwu said of the 621, 414 complaints received; January recorded 169, 850, February 205, 364 and March 246, 200.

He said that the dashboard served as a clarion call for government, civil society, and the international community to take concrete action.

He stated, ‘‘We have a mandate to act with urgency and to demand systemic reforms that address these violations at their root. Human rights are not abstract ideals to be debated only in halls like this or confined to the pages of reports. They are the air we breathe, the foundation of our dignity, and the hope we pass to our children. When a farmer is sentenced to death for defending his life, a child’s future is cut short by violence, and when a citizen’s cry for justice goes unanswered, we all lose something essential.’’

Similarly, Senior Human Rights Adviser to the Commission, Hiliary Ogbonna, lamented the spike in spousal abandonment which also affects the child.

He said spousal abandonment could be either way, the wife or husband abandoning matrimonial home and care.

He feared that spousal abandonment affected the children of the marriage and could lead to child abandonment.

He said, “When a child is abandoned, it is unlikely that the child will have access to education, health care, protection of the family and right to survival.  This development is bad for that child. Such children are vulnerable; they are prone to attacks and violence. Also, whatever affects their mother, who is the primary caregiver, also affects them. Even if child abandonment is low, and we see spousal abandonment being high, it’s almost as if child abandonment is high, because they work hand in hand.’’

He thanked their partners, United Nations Development Programme and the Office of the Resident Commissioner for Human Rights, Government of Norway among others.

Dashboard is a monthly analysis and graphical presentation of human rights situation in Nigeria.

Similarly, the Observatory is for monitoring, reporting and analysing the human rights violations.

The commission inaugurated the maiden edition of the dashboard and observatory in February 2024, while it presented the January report.

(NAN)