Nigeria records highest Civic Freedom violations in West Africa, S4C report shows

2026-03-20 - 01:03

By Obas Esiedesa, Abuja ABUJA – Civic freedoms across West Africa are deteriorating at an alarming rate, with Nigeria topping the list of violations in the subregion, a new report by Spaces for Change (S4C) has revealed. The report, titled “Civic Space in West Africa: Trends, Threats and Futures”, documented 801 civic space violations across 16 countries between July 2022 and December 2024—a 26 per cent increase from the 639 incidents recorded in the previous six-year period. According to the findings, Nigeria accounted for 332 cases, representing 41 per cent of the total incidents. Other high-incident countries include Guinea (74), Mali (70), Senegal (66), and Burkina Faso (57). Niger recorded 42, Togo 40, Sierra Leone 29, Ghana 27, Gambia 18, Côte d’Ivoire 16, Benin 13, Liberia 11, Guinea-Bissau five, Mauritania one, while Cape Verde reported no incidents. The report highlighted a systematic repression of civic space across the region, with state authorities increasingly using arrests, prosecutions, violence, and judicial mechanisms to silence dissent. A key concern is the growing role of the judiciary in enabling repression. Judicially backed violations surged from nine cases over six years to 70 cases in less than three years, a nearly 700 per cent increase. The report noted, “Governments are no longer simply ignoring courts; they are weaponising them. This shift from judicial passivity to judicial complicity is the defining new finding of the current period.” Other drivers behind the shrinking civic space include military coups, flawed elections, insecurity, misuse of digital technologies, and a rapidly growing youth population. The report warns that the crisis has expanded from individual countries into a regional trend, describing the democratic decline as “something closer to a democratic emergency” by 2025. To address the situation, S4C outlined six strategic priorities, including: Sustained engagement with judicial actors Investment in digital security tools for activists and journalists Inclusion of civil society organisations in counterterrorism policymaking Building coalitions with trade unions and grassroots movements Strengthening cross-border collaboration Establishing a regional emergency fund to support civic actors facing repression At the report unveiling, S4C Executive Director Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri stressed that freedom of expression remains the most suppressed right. She said, “People who criticise public authorities at the local, state, or federal levels are increasingly getting into trouble. Critical comments on social media often lead to arrest, detention, prosecution, or jail.” She further highlighted that rights to association and peaceful assembly, including protests against unjust policies, are also under growing restrictions. Programme Director at Fund for Global Human Rights, James Savage, noted that the findings mirror a broader global trend of shrinking civic space, similar to patterns in Latin America, Europe, and Asia. However, he commended the rise of youth-led civic engagement across West Africa, saying it demonstrates citizens’ determination to demand accountability and uphold democratic rights despite increasing repression.