Fighting gender-based violence will help Nigeria overcome challenges

Combatting gender-based violence (GBV) and placing it at the core of its development agenda will help Nigeria overcome the growth challenges of the 21st century, says leading industrialist and philanthropist, Dr Seinye Lulu-Briggs.

Citing a World Bank report that states countries can only meet the development challenges of the 21st century with the full and equal participation of all male and female citizens, Lulu-Briggs said reducing GBV must become a priority in Nigeria.

A statement at the weekend said the philanthropist disclosed this when she spoke as the guest speaker at the African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA), Rivers State branch event commemorating the 2023 Pan African Women’s Day and 16 Days of Activism to end gender-based violence in Port Harcourt, River State.

Lulu-Briggs reiterated that empowering and liberating women was essential for unlocking Nigeria and Africa’s immense potential.

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She lamented that despite most African countries ratifying the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, the African Union’s Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, they had not translated into widespread improvements in the lives of African women.