NHRC seeks stronger stakeholder partnership to advance human rights agenda

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has called for stronger collaboration with stakeholders to enhance the implementation of its mandate to promote, protect and enforce human rights across the country.

The appeal was made during a stakeholders’ consultative session on the mid-term review of the Commission’s Strategic Plan (2024–2027), held at its headquarters in Abuja.

Speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Dr. Tony Ojukwu, SAN, said the Commission values the contributions of its partners in achieving its objectives.

Ojukwu, who was represented by the Director of the Commission’s Abuja Metropolitan Office, Aisha Kaltungo, said the consultation provides an opportunity for stakeholders to assess the Commission’s progress, review lessons learned, identify implementation challenges and jointly develop practical measures to strengthen the implementation of the Strategic Plan during the remaining period.

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He stressed that stakeholders’ contributions and recommendations would enrich the findings of the mid-term review and guide the Commission in improving its performance and expanding its impact.

Ojukwu explained that the NHRC Strategic Plan (2024–2027) serves as the Commission’s roadmap for strengthening institutional capacity, improving service delivery, expanding access to justice and enhancing the protection of the rights of all persons, especially vulnerable and marginalised groups.

While acknowledging the progress recorded so far, the Executive Secretary noted that the review also identified areas requiring greater attention. These include strengthening implementation mechanisms, improving monitoring and reporting systems, building institutional capacity and ensuring the efficient utilisation of available resources.

Presenting the mid-term review report, the Director of Planning, Statistics and Documentation of the NHRC, Halima Oyedele, said the exercise was conducted to evaluate the Commission’s performance after the first two years of implementing the Strategic Plan.

She explained that the Strategic Plan provides the institutional framework for advancing the promotion, protection and enforcement of human rights in Nigeria by outlining the Commission’s strategic priorities, objectives, expected outcomes and performance indicators aimed at improving institutional effectiveness and service delivery.

Oyedele disclosed that the review assessed performance across the Commission’s 11 strategic priorities using data submitted by 36 state offices and 20 headquarters departments and units, adding that performance was measured against 160 validated indicators to determine the level of implementation.

According to her, the findings revealed that the Commission had made substantial progress in implementing the Strategic Plan, recording a total of 90,627 implementation outputs within the first half of the four-year programme.

She said the review highlighted significant achievements in institutional strengthening, human rights education and awareness, access to justice, complaints handling, human rights monitoring and stakeholder engagement, demonstrating the Commission’s commitment to protecting the rights of Nigerians.

Oyedele noted that the report provides evidence-based recommendations that will assist the Commission’s management in strengthening decision-making, improving implementation, enhancing institutional performance and ensuring the successful delivery of the Strategic Plan before it expires in 2027.

She urged participants at the consultative session to provide technical inputs, observations and constructive feedback, stressing that their contributions would help identify gaps, enrich the report and support practical measures to improve implementation and service delivery.