The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has sounded a distress call over the continued marginalisation and possible extinction of the Indigenous Peoples of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
At the United Nations in Geneva, the organisation raised concerns about the worsening conditions faced by these communities due to decades of neglect and systemic discrimination.
Speaking during the 18th Session of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, CHRICED Executive Director, Ibrahim Zikirullahi, declared that over two million Original Inhabitants (OIs) of Abuja, representing nine tribes and 17 chiefdoms, are grappling with land dispossession, political exclusion, and cultural erosion. He warned that without swift intervention, these communities may soon disappear entirely.
“The roots of their suffering trace back to Military Decree No. 6 of 1976, which forcefully took their ancestral lands to create the capital city. Since then, successive governments have failed to resettle them, compensate them, or even grant legal recognition,” Zikirullahi told the international audience. “Not even Supreme Court rulings in their favour have moved the Nigerian state to act.”
CHRICED described the Nigerian government’s failure to acknowledge the indigenous status of these communities as not only unconstitutional but also a breach of international human rights standards. Zikirullahi emphasized that basic services such as healthcare, education, potable water, and sanitation remain largely absent in these communities, worsening their marginalisation.
He further highlighted the lack of credible and disaggregated data on the FCT’s indigenous population, despite international research affirming their existence. According to him, this deliberate data gap has made it easier for the government to ignore their needs in planning, budgeting, and implementation of development programmes.
“We underscore the critical importance of data sovereignty and the right to data as a foundation for Indigenous Peoples’ self-determination and development,” Zikirullahi added. He stressed that development must never come at the cost of identity and heritage.
CHRICED called on the global community to hold Nigeria accountable and demand immediate reforms. These include legal recognition of Abuja’s OIs as Indigenous Peoples, political representation at local and regional levels, protection of land rights, and initiatives to preserve their culture and identity.
Zikirullahi concluded by urging international actors to support indigenous-led data systems that empower the communities to define their development priorities and claim their rightful place in Nigeria’s socio-political structure.
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