By Bonaventure Phillips Melah

The Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Dr. Tony Ojukwu has lamented the huge economic loses being suffered by the people of South East Nigeria, as a result of the Monday Sit-At-Home which has lingered for some years now.

While condemning the sit-at-home directive by IPOB agitators, he said no one has the right to restrict other people’s movement or right to engage in legitimate activities.

Ojukwu therefore called on governors and other leaders in the South East to put heads together and find a lasting solution to the problem, adding that was abuse of rights of citizens to prevent people from movement, freedom to associate and carry out their legitimate businesses, especially by non-state actors.

The NHRC boss made the call of Tuesday during the Commission’s presentation of the December 2025 Dashboard on human rights, where a roadmap for 2026 actions and interventions were equally drawn.

Responding to questions from reporters on the on-going dispute between traders at Onitsha Main market and the Anambra State Government, Ojukwu noted that preventing children from going to school, shutting down banks and other businesses on Mondays, in the name of protests do not serve the purpose of the affected communities. He therefore said that all legitimate means should be applied by all Governors and leaders in the states affected by the weekly sit-at-home.

Speaking while declaring the Dashboard presentation open, Ojukwu disclosed that over 3.7 million complaints on human rights abuses were received by the Commission in 2025, noting that the abuses arose from excessive use of force by security operatives, widespread killings by terrorists and religious extremists, banditry, domestic violence, sexual abuses such as rape and child abandonment among others.

He therefore called for collective action to stem the tide, saying the monthly dashboard should serve as a prevention mechanism just as he traced violations to inequality, joblessness, frail and ineffective institutions and injustice.

He however said there is hope in the horizon as the Commission has resolved to fortify early warnings, saying the Commission’s door is wide open for women, children, and the vulnerable populations to run to at all times, adding that technology would sharpen monitoring and evaluation.

He said- “Data alone does not change lives, action does,” and urged stakeholders including members of the diplomatic community, the media and MDAs, to deepen their partnership with the NHRC to tackle human rights violations.

Presenting the December 2025 dashboard and the 2026 outlook on human rights, Mr. Hillary Ogbonna, the Human Rights Adviser to the Executive Secretary, enumerated the various violations according to thematic and geographical areas.

He said that Complaints had exploded past 3 million, cresting at a staggering 3,724,822 across 36 NHRC State offices in addition to the Headquarters and Abuja Metropolitan Office.

According to him, the figures indicate that livelihoods have been shattered, people evicted from their homes while thousands of children have been denied education as a result of conflicts and displacements, even as healthcare services have crumbled in many communities. The above he said, were in addition to rising gender-based violence which as the data indicates were prevalent mostly in the North Central region, with particular mention of Benue State as the hotbed of the raging abuses.

He noted that December 2025 etched the horror deepest with 670 children abandoned to the streets as the NHRC Observatory tallied 246 killings out of which 149 people were felled by bandits’ bullets, 29 by Boko Haram/ISWAP’s weapons, 44 by faceless gunmen, especially in Southern part of the country while the rest got lost to chaos.

On the positive said, Hillary Ogbonna disclosed that the Commission resolved 52,489 complaints.

He repeated the call for the National Assembly to fast-track actions on the National Policy for the Protection of Civilians in Conflict.,” imploring that government must commit to shielding everyone.”

According to the Human Rights Adviser, the protection will encompass children, ambitious students, elders, women, men, and the most vulnerable.

He outlined Nigeria’s 2026 human rights outlook and flagged risks from persistent insecurity, banditry, and communal clashes, saying the above could be tackled through strengthened community policing and local security architecture, rollout of early warning systems, improved religious freedom, electoral reform, and enhanced political plurality.

The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Representative in Nigeria, Ajuwa Kufour, in remark, praised the effort of the Commission in tracking rights abuses across communities in the country.

According to her- “The dashboard covers the reality of Nigeria, charting a course for better human rights protection,” and assured that the Commission can count on UN support.

In his own remark, Mr. Babatunde Baba who represented the Police Service Commission (PSC), highlighted the existing partnership between NHRC and the PSC, saying that NHRC has cooperated closely with the Commission by insisting that they are brought in, in almost all activities concerning human rights.