Nigeria is performing worse than average on key human rights indicators, according to new data released by the Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI), an independent global non-governmental organisation.

Information available on the organisation’s 2026 embargoed rights tracker site showed that Nigeria was rated 5.5 out of 10 in the category of Safety from the State, including protection from arbitrary arrest, torture, enforced disappearance, extrajudicial execution and the death penalty.

“Compared with the other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria is performing worse than average when we look across the rights for which we have data,” the report stated.

According to the HRMI, Nigeria’s safety from the state score of 5.5 out of 10 suggested that many people were not safe from one or more of the following: arbitrary arrest, torture and ill-treatment, forced disappearance, death penalty or extrajudicial killing.

In the area of empowerment, Nigeria received a score of 5.6 out of 10, suggesting that many people were not enjoying their civil liberties and political freedoms, including freedom of speech, assembly, and association, as well as democratic rights and freedom of religion and belief.

In HRMI’s Quality of Life category, Nigeria was rated in the “very bad” and “bad” categories across indicators, including health, housing and work.

The country, however, was rated “fair” for access to food, at 56.5%.

The HRMI’s latest scores came amid a surge in reported human rights violations across the country.

According to its human rights complaints statistics for May, the National Human Rights Commission reported a total of 268,787 complaints, an increase from the previous month.

The commission, in a statement issued on Thursday, stated that the North Central zone recorded the highest number of complaints, while the FCT, Benue and Borno states topped the list of states with the highest complaints.

Hilary Ogbonna, NHRC’s senior human rights adviser, who presented the report, expressed worry over other forms of incidents recorded, including continued cases of sexual and gender-based violence, child rights violations, killings and kidnappings across the country. 

The NHRC called for stronger security measures, greater accountability and enhanced protection of vulnerable groups to curb the rising trend of human rights violations across Nigeria.