Activities:
Free Legal Aid
Civic Education Programmes
Voter Education Programmes
Election Monitoring
Budget Tracking
Procurement Monitoring
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
Recent Activities:
CEFSAN with support from Amnesty International has organized the “2026 International Women’s Day tagged Justice for Her.”
Project Period: 7th March, 2026.
CEFSAN with support from Amnesty International has organized the “2025 Write for Rights Campaign in Commemoration of International Human Rights Day.”
Project Period: 10th December, 2025.
CEFSAN with funding from Start Fund in collaboration with Oxfam Nigeria has implemented a project on “Strengthening Mechanisms for Early Response to Electoral Violence in Kano and Plateau States of Nigeria.”
Project Period: February – April, 2023.
CEFSAN with support from Peace Initiative Network (PIN) has implemented a project on “Prevention of Violence in 2023 General Elections in Kano State.”
Project Period: October 2022 – June 2023
CEFSAN with support from UNICEF has implemented a project on “Almajiri and Out of School Adolescent Girls Verification Exercise in Gaya Emirate of Kano State – Nigeria.”
Project Period: February–July, 2022
CEFSAN with support from Peace Direct, UK has implemented a project on “Mitigating Ethno-religious Violence through Strengthening the Capacity of Youth Leaders in Kano State.”
Project Period: January 2020 – January 2021
CEFSAN with support from the Nexus Fund, Washington D.C has conducted a project on “Prevention of Violence and Mass Atrocities in the 2019 General Election in Kano State – Nigeria.”
Project Period: July, 2018 – January, 2019.
CEFSAN in partnership with Y. S. Yankuzo & Co. (Humanitarian Chambers) had intervened in over 120 human rights and public interest cases ranging from unlawful arrest and detention to human rights abuses by security operatives, domestic, sexual and gender based violence, rape, custody, maintenance, child labour etc. (March 2017-Date).
It has formed over 11 Human Rights Clubs in some universities and other tertiary institutions in Northern Nigeria.
It has trained over 300 members of Community Based Organizations (CBOs) on Human Rights and Livelihood Skills in Kano, Sokoto, Jigawa and Plateau States.
The Centre has been providing free legal aid to indigent people in Nigeria who cannot afford the services of legal representation in court.
The Centre is engaged in human rights campaign through social media platforms (facebook, twitter, instagram, linkedin etc).
Public Interest (Strategic) Litigations being Carried out by the Centre:
SN | Parties: | Suit No: | Court: | Brief Facts/Outcome: |
1. | Yusha’u Sani Yankuzo, Esq & 5 Ors v. Nigeria Police Force & 3 Ors. | FHC/KN/CS/41/2025
| Federal High Court, Kano Division (Court 3) | The Fundamental Rights Enforcement suit challenged the illegal arrest and detention of the six members of the Nigeria Patriotic Front Movement (NPFM) in connection with the 1st October, 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests in Nigeria.
The Court ruled in favour of the six protesters declaring that their arrest and detention by the DSS and the police was unconstitutional. |
2. | Centre for Human Rights and Social Advancement & Anor V. Attorney General of Kano State & 2 Ors. | K/M140/2022
| Kano State High Court No. 2 | The Originating Summons challenged the excessive filing fees charged by the Kano State Judiciary against poor litigants in the State.
The court ruled in favour of the Centre thereby declaring the exorbitant filing fees as unconstitutional and reduced the fees from N3,000 per motion to N100 per motion. |
3. | Commissioner of Police V. Usman Adam & 189 Ors. | KA/3164/2024
| Senior Magistrate Court No. 54, Nomansland, Kano | The Centre had secured the release of over 142 protesters who had participated in the 1st August, 2024 #EndBadGovernance Protests in Kano State. |
4. | The Registered Trustees of Centre for Human Rights and Social Advancement (CEFSAN) V. Attorney General of Federation & 5 Ors. | FHC/KN/CS/266/2022
| Federal High Court, Kano Division (Court 1) | The Fundamental Rights Enforcement Suit was filed to enforce the fundamental rights of all qualified citizens of Kano State to free and compulsory universal basic and junior secondary school education.
Case still pending. |
5. | Centre for Human Rights and Social Advancement (CEFSAN) V. Inspector General of Police & 7 Ors. | FHC/ABJ/CS/1558/2021 https://dailynigerian.com/nigerian-govt-dragged-court/
https://dailytrust.com/court-adjourns-hearing-on-suit-challenging-police-commercialization/ | Federal High Court 6, Abuja | The Originating Summons was filed to restrain the Nigerian government from monetizing policing in Nigeria. |
6. | Yusha’u Sani Yankuzo V. Zenith Bank & Anor | FHC/KN/CS/99/2022 | Federal High Court, Kano Division (Court 3) | The Fundamental Rights Enforcement Suit was filed to address the high incidence of ATM/POS dispense error by the Nigerian commercial banks which the Central Bank of Nigeria is not willing to address and which is resulting in the violation of the fundamental rights of many Nigerians. |