Justice in Nigeria
The data on this page comes from a Justice Needs and Satisfaction survey conducted by HiiL in 2018. We interviewed over 6 000 randomly selected adults across the country. Their voices represent the justice needs and experiences of millions Nigerians.
Share:
Below you can explore the story of justice problems in the everyday life of citizens of Nigeria using interactive charts. People told us how the problems affect them, what they do to resolve them and how they experienced the formal and informal justice system.
This is the justice story as the people in Nigeria encounter and feel it.
- 73% Nigerians faced one or more legal problems in the last four years.
- Nigerians had to deal with 25 million legal problems every year
- The most common problems are around disputes with neighbours, crime, money and land.
- For 17% people the legal problem had a severe impact on their lives.
- Victims of crimes and people with employment disputes experience the biggest impacts.
- 72% of Nigerians seek information or advice for their problem, mainly from their social network.
- 71% of Nigerians who experience problems took action to resolve their problem.
- Four out of ten Nigerians who took action report their problem was completely solved.
Read the full report on justice needs of people in Nigeria here
How people experience justice in Nigeria
Have you encountered one or more legal problems?
A legal problem is a problem that takes place in daily life – a dispute, disagreement or grievance for which there is a resolution in the (formal or informal) law. It does not matter if the individual sees it as legal or whether she took action to resolve it.
The chart shows how many adults in Nigeria encountered one or more legal problems in the last 4 years.
Where do problems occur?
The map shows where in Nigeria problems occur. It breaks down the incidence of legal problems per region.
Which are the most serious problems?
We asked people to tell us about the legal problem which they assess as most serious.
The problems are grouped into categories. For instance, Crime aggregates experiences with property and violent crime, fraud and so on.
How are problems resolved in Nigeria?
Starting from the all people in Nigeria, this chart shows how many people encounter legal problems, how many take action and ultimately how many problems are considered to be completely resolved.
What was the impact of the problem?
Legal problems affect people in different ways. Violence, stress, deterioration of important relationships and loss of job are possible consequences of legal problems.
Did you look for legal information and advice?
Information and advice are key for resolving legal problems. People need to know how to limit the damage, what to do and where to go to resolve the problem.
Did you take action to resolve the problem?
When there is a legal problem a well functioning legal system provides one or more dispute resolution mechanisms. We call the chains of these dispute resolution mechanisms justice journeys.
The concept of a justice journey recognizes that there are many different steps to resolve a problem. Most often these steps are not linear. The entirety of steps that people take to resolve a problem is a justice journey.
Which was the most useful provider of justice?
People involve various providers of justice to resolve their problems. Here we ask which of these providers was most useful in resolving the problem.
Usefulness is a subjective concept. It allows the individual to consider the different providers involved and estimate which one had the most influence in the process of resolving the problem.
Is the problem resolved at the moment?
People need fair resolutions to their problems to move on with their lives.
This chart show how they assess the resolution of the problem at the time of the interview.
How do you assess the quality of justice?
Research shows that people assess three key elements of their justice journeys:
– Quality of the process
– Quality of the outcome
– Costs of accessing justice
This chart shows how the users of justice in Nigeria perceive the three elements of their justice journey.
