If you are active on social media in Nigeria, it is very hard to miss the stories that come up every day. A few days ago, my wife told me about Priscilla, a 24-year-old woman in Abuja who was killed when she went to visit her boyfriend and he is still walking free despite committing first-degree murder. A few weeks ago, we were all heartbroken on X (formerly Twitter) when the story of the death of Christiana Idowu, a 21-year-old undergraduate of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State, broke. We were further spooked to discover that her killer was a serial killer who had allegedly killed two other women in the past including his sister.
In another story last week, the corpse of a pregnant woman was found at Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri, Imo State with multiple stab wounds. As I write this, I looked at my pregnant wife as she struggles to walk slowly from one room to the other and wondered why anyone would be that cruel to harm someone like her. I also wonder when something will be done to address the scourge of femicide and violence against women and girls in Nigeria because these few cases I have highlighted, out of many that happen in Nigeria, have occurred within days and weeks of each other. How many more women have to die before something is done urgently?
According to the United Nations, almost one in three (31%) women aged 15-49 have experienced physical violence in Nigeria. One in four girls, including very young ones, experience sexual violence. For many women and girls, home is not a safe place as about 50 per cent of girls who have experienced sexual violence, experience it at home. Domestic violence in Nigeria is also high with almost two out of every ten married women and girls (16%) reporting experiencing physical or sexual violence at the hands of their spouses or partners at some point during their lives.
It gets even worse. The UN report also shows that 86 per cent of people who require medical attention due to sexual assault in healthcare facilities are women and girls. Two in three women and girls experience violence by their husbands and boyfriends. Just 0.9% of perpetrators of sexual assault are brought to trial, and almost none of them are convicted. This underscores the response of the Nigerian judiciary to violence committed against women.
Femicide, the intentional killing of women and girls because they are female, is a serious crime that is on the rise in Nigeria. It often stems from ongoing patterns of violence against women, driven by deep-rooted beliefs that men should have control over women. The UN reported that in 2022 alone, at least 401 women died from sexual and gender-based violence in Nigeria.
The situation is not all gloomy because there are sprouts of bold initiatives aimed at tackling gender-based violence in Nigeria that are already recording some success. One example is the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA) and the Sex Offenders Register, which was signed into law in Lagos State by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on September 20, 2021.
The DSVA is saddled with the responsibility of coordinating the immediate response to sexual and gender-based violence in Lagos State including; Reporting incidences of sexual and domestic assaults, making initial contact with survivors of sexual and gender-based violence offences, providing medical evaluation and care, collecting and documenting forensic and crime scene evidence, conducting a preliminary investigation, and rescuing and providing support to survivors.
So far, DSVA has provided services to over 6,333 survivors in Lagos State, attending to an average of 300 new cases monthly. This just shows the potential for change when concerted efforts are made towards addressing Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
However, you will agree with me that Lagos is just one state out of 36, and for us to cause sustainable change on the issue of GBV in Nigeria, we need several more DSVAs across the respective states, and we also need broad shifts in societal thinking and traditional norms as it relates to how women are viewed in Nigeria.
This is part of why November 25 to December 10 every year is set aside by the United Nations as the 16 Days of Activism Against GBV providing government, civil society, and GBV survivors and activists a chance to bring the international community’s attention to GBV issues in the respective countries.
At Nguvu Collective, in Nigeria, our change leaders have explored several creative ways to campaign including the Red Shoe Campaign, which blended fashion and activism featuring powerful messages against gender-based violence in Nigeria. We also recently brought together a consortium of 16 civil society organisations to write an open letter to Senator Jibrin Isah seeking transparency on the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act repeal process.
The fight against gender-based violence in Nigeria is going to be a long and hard battle, but it is only through collective action and collective power that we can win.
Wikina is a Senior Partnerships Specialist at Nguvu Collective
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
