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).
A study tracked the same group of Nigerians across three years, providing a rare, 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, often becoming recurrent, unresolved challenges that significantly impact people’s health, finances, and family lives.
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 findings, often fail to offer lasting solutions, especially in densely populated urban communities, where poverty intersects with systemic inaccessibility.
The report stated that a particularly concerning pattern emerged regarding the recurrence 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. Most people still take action when faced with legal troubles, even if they eventually abandon the process due to a lack of hope in fair outcomes.
At the launch of the report, HiiL’s Country Representative, Ijeoma Nwafor, described the report as “a wake-up call and a resource,” providing policymakers with clear evidence of where the justice system falls short in serving its citizens. Dutch Ambassador to Nigeria, Bengt van Loosdrecht, reinforced the urgency, stating, “Justice should not be a luxury—it should be a commodity for everyone.”
The launch event brought together senior stakeholders from the Legal Aid Council, the Nigerian Law School, the Ministry of Justice, the National Judicial Institute, and civil society, all of whom agreed that the widening justice gap calls for urgent, people-centred reform.
The report recommends sustained investment in community-based mechanisms, enhanced support for informal dispute resolution, and a shift toward delivering affordable, accessible, and timely justice. As Sunny Daniel of the National Human Rights Commission aptly said, “This should serve as an alarm bell. We are still far from where we want to be.”
