Performance evaluation of the Commission’s 2024–2027 Strategic Plan highlights major achievements in human rights protection while exposing uneven implementation across strategic priorities and states.
By A1NEWS International Investigations Desk
ABUJA, Nigeria — July 31, 2026
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has recorded 90,627 implementation outputs in the first half of its 2024–2027 Strategic Plan, reflecting extensive nationwide efforts to promote and protect human rights. However, the Commission’s Mid-Term Performance Evaluation also reveals significant disparities in implementation across thematic priorities, state offices and headquarters departments, raising questions about institutional balance, resource allocation and long-term sustainability.
The comprehensive review, covering January 2024 to December 2025, assessed activities undertaken by all 36 state offices and 20 headquarters departments, measuring performance against 160 validated indicators designed to monitor implementation of the Commission’s Strategic Plan.
Human Rights Education, Vulnerable Groups Dominate NHRC Activities
An analysis of the report shows that implementation efforts were heavily concentrated in two strategic areas.
Protection of vulnerable populations accounted for 43,477 outputs (47.97%), while human rights education and awareness generated 22,882 outputs (25.25%). Combined, both priorities represented nearly three-quarters of all activities undertaken by the Commission during the review period.
Moderate performance was recorded in promoting economic, social and cultural rights, treaty reporting, and access to justice, while areas such as monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management, resource mobilisation, civil and political rights, and research recorded comparatively lower outputs.
State Offices Account for Majority of NHRC Activities
The evaluation found that state offices generated 48,980 outputs (54%), outperforming headquarters departments, which collectively recorded 41,647 outputs (46%).
Among the states, Ondo emerged as the highest-performing office with 10,452 implementation outputs, followed by Plateau, Delta, Rivers, Anambra, Ogun, Jigawa, Nasarawa and Kwara, all classified under the “Very High Implementation” category.
At the opposite end of the rankings, Oyo, Sokoto, Gombe, Edo, Katsina and Kebbi recorded the lowest implementation outputs and were classified under the “Emerging Implementation” category. The report cautions, however, that such differences largely reflect operational contexts, institutional mandates and reporting responsibilities rather than outright organisational inefficiency.
Monitoring Department Leads Headquarters Performance
Within headquarters, the Monitoring Department overwhelmingly dominated implementation with 33,990 outputs, representing by far the highest departmental contribution.
Other high-performing departments included Human Resource Management, Human Rights Institute, Human Rights Education and Corporate Affairs. Meanwhile, Internal Audit, Procurement, Complaints Registry and Finance & Accounts recorded relatively low implementation outputs.
The report notes that these variations should be interpreted within the context of differing institutional mandates, as administrative and specialised units naturally produce fewer measurable implementation outputs than operational departments.
Evaluation Exposes Institutional Weaknesses
Despite the impressive implementation figures, the Mid-Term Review identifies several institutional challenges requiring urgent attention.
Among the major concerns highlighted are:
- Uneven implementation across strategic priorities.
- Variations in operational capacity among state offices.
- Inconsistencies in data recording and reporting.
- Limited financial and operational resources.
- Weak performance in specialised thematic areas such as monitoring, knowledge management and resource mobilisation.
The review also acknowledges that reliance on administrative data without extensive field verification remains a limitation that could influence some findings.
Recommendations Focus on Institutional Reforms
To strengthen implementation during the remaining two years of the Strategic Plan, the evaluation recommends:
- Greater investment in underperforming strategic priorities.
- Stronger monitoring and evaluation systems.
- Routine data validation across headquarters and state offices.
- Increased capacity-building for state coordinators.
- Better documentation and replication of best practices.
- Periodic performance dashboards for management.
- Improved resource allocation to achieve balanced implementation nationwide.
Why the Findings Matter
For policy analysts and civil society observers, the Mid-Term Review provides one of the most comprehensive snapshots of the NHRC’s operational performance in recent years.
While the Commission demonstrates substantial nationwide engagement in human rights education, complaints handling and protection of vulnerable populations, the evaluation equally underscores the importance of strengthening institutional accountability, data quality, research capacity and sustainable financing if the Strategic Plan’s objectives are to be fully realised before 2027.
The NHRC’s Mid-Term Performance Evaluation presents a mixed but encouraging picture. The Commission has made measurable progress in implementing its Strategic Plan, recording more than 90,000 implementation outputs nationwide. Yet, the report also serves as a warning that uneven performance, weak monitoring systems and resource constraints could undermine future gains unless corrective measures are implemented.
For Nigeria’s foremost human rights institution, the next phase of implementation will likely determine whether the Strategic Plan achieves not only impressive output figures but also lasting improvements in the protection, promotion and enforcement of human rights across the country.
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