A/HRC/43/43/Add.1 overarching goal of developing policy recommendations for the Government. The panel travelled to Lagos, Port Harcourt and other cities, and produced an interim report. However, the panel was suspended prior to completing its work when the President, Muhammadu Buhari, dissolved the Commission’s Governing Council in 2015. Seventeen communities are currently arguing before the Community Court of Justice that their rights to an effective remedy and to be heard without undue delay were violated as a result of the panel’s suspension.71 80. The National Human Rights Commission’s work to protect the right to housing has been constrained by the suspension of its policymaking and decision-making body, the Governing Council, since 2015. The Special Rapporteur was told that the appointment of its members was imminent. VIII. Conclusions and recommendations 81. In order to tackle the housing crisis in Nigeria, it is crucial that reliable data be obtained: the Government should immediately commence the collection of impartial census data. The National Population Commission of Nigeria should ensure that the next census includes human rights-based indicators relevant to the right to housing, such as the size of the population living in informal settlements and the situation of those living in homelessness, measurements of housing adequacy and affordability, the number of vacant homes, housing and land ownership rates and information on security of tenure. 82. The federal Government should declare a national-level end to forced evictions and establish legal and procedural safeguards to ensure that if an eviction occurs it is in compliance with international human rights law. All court orders preventing forced evictions must be strictly respected and past instances of government officials disobeying court orders must be investigated and perpetrators held accountable. 83. Federal and state governments must recognize housing as a fundamental human right, residents of both formal and informal housing as rights-holders and housing as a social good. Legislation recognizing the right to housing as a fundamental human right should be enacted alongside rights-based housing strategies and mechanisms for claiming this right. They must meaningfully engage communities in the development of both. Rights-based strategies should include measurable goals and timelines, and monitoring and accountability mechanisms. They should be multisectoral in approach and aim to enhance federal-state coordination. Strategies must address structural barriers to adequate housing for the most vulnerable populations, including viable housing options for those with no income. Guidance on how to ensure that housing strategies conform with international human rights law is contained in the Special Rapporteur’s report to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-seventh session (A/HRC/37/53). 84. The Land Use Act should be updated to address present-day challenges and reduce bureaucratic obstacles to the transfer of land rights. Most importantly, the wide powers that the Act grants to Governors to revoke occupancy rights must be restricted and aligned with international human rights standards, including the prohibition of forced evictions and the rights of indigenous peoples over their lands and resources. 85. A national commission should be established to investigate gross and systematic human rights violations that have occurred during past forced evictions, provide access to remedies, including compensation and restitution, and hold perpetrators accountable. Due to the scale of the violations, a truth commission may be advisable. 71 18 Ibid., Edwin Lenyie and others v. Nigeria.