Human Rights Day 2025: RULAAC decries rising violations, demands urgent reforms

Stanley Ihedigbo

Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has joined the global community to commemorate Human Rights Day 2025, celebrated under the theme: “Human Rights, Our Everyday Essentials.”

This year’s theme, RULAAC noted, was a powerful reminder that human rights are not abstract ideals or lofty principles reserved for speeches and international observances.

According to the Executive Director, RULAAC of the group, Okechukwu Nwanguma, they are the practical, daily essentials that ensure all people live with dignity, including access to clean water, food, healthcare, housing, education, justice, and freedom of expression.

RULAAC stressed that human rights remain the foundation of any peaceful, just, and inclusive society.

“Yet in Nigeria today, millions continue to live without these essentials because of governance failures, systemic corruption, insecurity, and a worsening humanitarian crisis. Basic rights that the Nigerian state is obligated to guarantee have increasingly become privileges available only to the wealthy, well-connected, or powerful,” he explained.

According to RULAAC, the Federal Government must urgently move beyond rhetoric and demonstrate real, measurable commitment to its constitutional and international human rights obligations.

Nigeria is a signatory to numerous global and regional human rights instruments, yet the daily experiences of citizens consistently contradict these commitments.

The organisation highlighted several areas where Nigerians continue to be denied their everyday essentials which includes; many communities rely on unsafe or contaminated water sources, exposing millions — especially children — to health risks and indignity.

Chronic underfunding, collapse of primary healthcare systems, and absence of essential medicines continue to cost lives, particularly among women, children, and rural populations.

Rising insecurity, dilapidated schools, out-of-school children, and increasing fees undermine the constitutional guarantee of quality education.

Journalists, activists, whistle-blowers, and ordinary citizens still face intimidation, harassment, arbitrary arrests, and digital surveillance for speaking out.

Police brutality, extrajudicial killings, kidnappings, communal violence, and widespread insecurity expose the state’s failure to protect lives and ensure justice.

RULAAC noted that these persistent failures reflect a governance structure that has not prioritised human dignity.

To aligned with the spirit of Human Rights Day 2025, RULAAC calls on the government to take decisive actions, including: prioritising basic social services through transparent budgeting and improved delivery in water, healthcare, and education sectors.

Guaranteeing freedom of expression and civic participation, ensuring journalists, activists, and citizens can speak without fear.

Ending impunity in law enforcement by implementing meaningful police reforms, strengthening oversight mechanisms, and ensuring accountability for abuses.

Addressing insecurity through rights-respecting strategies focused on intelligence, prevention, community engagement, and justice rather than repression. Strengthening anti-corruption efforts so public resources translate into improved services and living conditions.

Protecting vulnerable groups — including children, women, persons with disabilities, displaced persons, and the poor — who bear the brunt of rights violations.

As the world marks Human Rights Day, RULAAC reminded the Nigerian government that human rights are not optional reforms or lofty aspirations.

They are binding obligations at the core of governance. Ensuring access to water, healthcare, education, justice, and freedom is not an act of benevolence, it is a legal and moral duty of the state.

“Nigeria cannot pledge allegiance to human rights abroad while neglecting or violating them at home,” the organisation warns.

RULAAC reaffirmed its full commitment to monitoring and documenting human rights abuses; supporting victims; promoting police accountability; and advocating for a Nigeria where human rights are not theoretical guarantees, but the lived reality of every citizen, every day.

Human rights, the group emphasises, are our everyday essentials and must form the foundation of the nation’s peace, justice, and development.