A human rights organization, under the aegis of Lawyers Alert, has decried the rampant cases of violence against women and girls in Nigeria and called for urgent action to nip it in the bud.
The group, in its latest report on the violence on women and girls in Nigeria, said the alarming rate of violence on women and girls in the country was worrisome and disturbing.
The group’s Director of Programmes, Roseline Oghenebrume, said the report was a compilation of violations captured from women and girls who are victims of violence.
She said the report covered the six geo-political zones in Nigeria and that it was conducted between January 2018 and January 2019.
According to her, “Lagos State ranked highest in violations against Women and Girls in the country at 37% followed by the Federal Capital Territory at 12 percent.”
“At Local Government level, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) Local Government Area in the Federal Capital Territory has the highest violation of 23% while Central in Edo state at 13% coming second.”
Roseline said the findings on rape where minors within age zero to five years and six to-nine years should be of grave concern to State and Non-State Actors including the families.
She said as minors hardly ever report violations of this type for fear and intimidation, the situation is worrisome given that rape of minors only often comes to light when predators are caught.
She lamented that the rape of minors were often carried out by family and relations.
She noted that the report shows an increase of two percent in rape of minors compared to the last report on Violence against Women and Girls published in July 2018.
She said majority of the cases reported and documented are resolved via free legal services for victims.
“The provision of free legal services to victims achieves two purposes; Justice and Remedial Measures and equally important veracity and authenticity of the violations”, Roseline said.
