Prominent human rights lawyer Femi Falana, SAN, and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) have urged urgent government action to safeguard citizens, particularly children, amid escalating insecurity in Northern Nigeria.
Falana delivered the call in his keynote address at the NBA Human Rights Institute event commemorating 2025 International Human Rights Day in Abuja. The event, chaired by Justice Muhammad Dattijo JSC (Retired), carried the theme: “Human Rights: Our Everyday Essential” with the sub-theme “Security, a Necessity for the Growth of Our Nation, Nigeria.”
During his address, Falana highlighted that existing measures to combat terrorism, banditry, and insurgency in the North remain insufficient, urging additional funding and strategic interventions.
“Schools, both primary and secondary, are being shut down in the North. Terrorists and bandits are celebrating this, yet we claim we are ‘winning the war.’ We need real action,” Falana said.
He stressed that job creation for youths is crucial, noting that of Nigeria’s estimated 20 million out-of-school children, 80 percent are in Northern states. “If we do not take care of the children of the poor, they will make life unbearable for our own children. This is the reality we face in the North,” he added.
Falana also raised concerns about mismanagement of allocated security funds and called on the NBA to monitor their proper use. He recommended temporary relocation of some schools to state capitals with adequate security while emphasizing the need for community-based protection structures for rural institutions.
Noting technological gaps in monitoring security, Falana welcomed the Federal Government’s recent approval of ₦20 billion for satellite facilities, describing it as a step toward enhancing intelligence and security operations. He urged the military, law enforcement agencies, and the Federal Government to fully support the acquisition and deployment of such equipment.
Falana emphasized the constitutional obligation of the government to protect citizens, citing Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution, which designates the security and welfare of the people as a primary purpose of government. He also urged authorities to implement resolutions from previous conferences, engaging with the Inspector-General of Police, the DSS, and service chiefs, as well as reviewing constitutional provisions related to human rights protection.
He further called on the NBA to compile and circulate court judgments protecting citizens’ rights, referencing landmark cases, including a 2021 ruling challenging the Chief of Army Staff’s directive requiring identity cards at checkpoints, and another declaring restrictions on female police officers’ marital rights unlawful.
“NBA should circulate these judgments widely so that Nigerians know their rights and security agencies comply with them. The NBA will need substantial support to carry out this work effectively,” Falana said.
In his welcome address, NBA 1st Vice President Sabastine Anyia, who also chairs the NBA Human Rights Institute, underscored that security is the foundation of human rights.
“Human rights are not luxuries reserved for the privileged; they are the everyday assurances that every Nigerian child, woman, or man, should carry with them, knowing they matter,” Anyia said.
He added that insecurity threatens national progress:
“Without security, dreams are postponed, businesses collapse, children learn to fear, and communities become shadows of the vibrant possibilities they carry. Justice becomes a distant chant, and human rights, our everyday essential, lose their ground.”
Falana and the NBA’s appeals come amid increasing attacks on schools, abductions, and community insecurity in Northern Nigeria, underscoring the urgent need for coordinated government, security, and civil society intervention.
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