NHRC expresses concern over fatal road accidents, excessive force against protesters

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday expressed concerns over the rising loss of lives through road accidents, infringing on right to life. The commission also highlighted the excessive use of force by security personnel against protesters in the country.

During the presentation of its eighth monthly dashboard report at its headquarters in Abuja, the NHRC expressed dismay over these issues, noting a continued rise in human rights complaints over the past month.

The Senior Human Rights Adviser to the NHRC, Hilary Ogbonna, who presented the report on behalf of the commission, said 305,300 complaints of abuses were recorded in September, an additional increase of 76,751 compared to August’s report.

“The Human rights violation data continues to rise, we wish this is one data that we wouldn’t want to grow, but unfortunately it still keeps growing,” Mr Ogbonna said.

He attributed the spike in the number of complaints to improved public awareness of the activities of the commission and the worsening economic hardship.

The most concerning issue raised by the NHRC is the loss of lives in road accidents.

The Executive Secretary of the commission, Tony Ojukwu, represented by the Director of Legal Services and Enforcement, Rabi Anwar, said, “A major issue we are highlighting today is the tragic loss of lives due to road accidents, which severely undermines the enjoyment of human rights for many families.”

He added, “According to the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), approximately 1,471 individuals have been killed from road crashes in the first quarter of 2024 alone. It is crucial for the government and the Federal Road Safety Corps, to take immediate and sustainable measures to address this crisis and ensure the safety and welfare of all motorists in Nigeria.”

The state of most roads across the country remain deplorable.

Besides the poor state of the road, Mr Ogbonna also blamed these accidents on the carelessness of some drivers who ply the road with gallons of petrol.

NHRC frowns on use of teargas on protesters

The #FearlessinOctober protest which was held on Nigeria’s 64th Independence celebration in continuation of August’s #EndBadGovernance protest.

Despite the low turnout of protesters, the Nigerian police dispersed them in Abuja with tear gas..
The protesters could not regroup after the police fired tear gas at them.

“We are deeply concerned about the excessive use of force and tear gas by the Nigeria Police Force on protesters in Abuja. Such actions represent a serious violation of the fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens,” Mr Ojukwu said.

Complaints from geopolitical zones

Like in the August report, the North-West continues to record the highest number of cases of human rights abuse. The region is followed by the North-central, South-South, South-West, North East, and lastly South-east, in that order.

The North-west topped the list in terms of the number of kidnapping cases , while the South-west recorded the lowest.

The breakdown of kidnappings on a regional basis is North-west, 72; North-Central, 15; North-East, 8; South-south, 12; South-East, 7, and South-West, 4.

Other complaints

Mr Ogbonna, while presenting the report, explained that the rights to the freedom of religion became a major issue in September because of the restrictions put in place by some states.

“The freedom of religion became a major issue in September because of some states in Nigeria that placed restrictions on the enjoyment of this rights by some religious minorities,” he said,

Mob action was also prevalent in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), where a person was reportedly set ablaze for allegedly stealing a motorcycle, and another was beaten for allegedly stealing a bag of rice. In Lagos, a man was reportedly killed for stealing wire. In Ondo State, a person was said to have been killed over debt.

There were also cases of sexual gender-based violence. In Jigawa, there was a case of an insertion of scissors and a spoon in the genitals of an eight-year-old.

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Mr Ogbonna also lamented the violation of the rights of children, which has continued to increase, especially child abandonment.

He said the NHRC was committed to addressing this issue.

“This continues to be an alarming situation, the commission has resolved to organise a stakeholders forum where we are going to discuss this because the commission keeps seeing this since January.

“It is something that really needs both policy, legal, and institutional action,” he said.