A staggering 90 per cent of Nigerians encountered at least one legal problem over the last four years, according to the 2025 Justice Needs and Satisfaction (JNS) report launched in Abuja by the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL).
The data, drawn from a unique longitudinal study, which tracked the same group of Nigerians across three years, provided an in-depth look into how legal issues persist, resurface, and evolve in daily life.
The study reveals that legal problems in Nigeria are rarely isolated issues and they often become recurrent, as well as unresolved challenges that weigh heavily on people’s health, finances, and family lives.
Also, according to the report, land disputes alone accounted for 24 per cent of all unresolved legal cases by the end of the year, while 30 per cent of respondents reported experiencing domestic violence, including physical abuse, emotional harm, and economic deprivation.
The numbers further show that most people seek resolution outside the formal legal system. While courts and official processes are still viewed with some respect, they are widely considered too expensive, too slow, and too complex. As a result, many Nigerians turn instead to community leaders, family members, or religious figures for redress.
These informal mechanisms, according to the group’s findings, however, often fail to offer lasting solutions—especially in densely populated urban communities where poverty intersects with systemic inaccessibility.
The report said that a particularly concerning pattern emerged around the reoccurrence of legal issues, especially those involving neighbours and family members. These problems often return due to weak or informal initial resolutions, indicating a gap between justice as a concept and justice as a lived experience. Trust in the police remains especially low, while religious leaders and community authorities are seen as more approachable.
Despite this bleak picture, the report underscores the resilience of ordinary Nigerians who still take action when faced with legal troubles, even if they eventually abandon the process due to a lack of hope in fair outcomes.
The Country Representative of the HiiL, Ijeoma Nwafor, who spoke at the launch of the report, called the report “a wake-up call and a resource,” offering clear evidence to policymakers about where the justice system fails its citizens.
Also, the Dutch Ambassador to Nigeria, Bengt van Loosdrecht, reinforced the urgency, stating, “Justice should not be a luxury—it should be a commodity for everyone.”
Meanwhile, the launch of the report brought together senior stakeholders from the Legal Aid Council, Nigerian Law School, the Ministry of Justice, the National Judicial Institute, and civil society groups, all of whom agreed that the widening justice gap calls for urgent and people-centred reform,
The report, therefore, recommends sustained investment in community-based mechanisms, better support for informal dispute resolution, and a shift toward affordable, accessible, and timely justice delivery.
