The United Nations and European Union have revealed that one out of every three women in Nigeria had experienced rape or domestic violence ranging from assault, trauma and abuse from men.
The UN-EU, however, traced the persistent cases to the African culture.
They therefore charged traditional rulers and community leaders to join forces with the international organisations to address the ugly trends.
Head, Resident Coordinator Office of United Nations in Nigeria, Mr. Kwasi Amankwashi dropped this hint in Abakiliki during the two-day workshop on implementation of “Spotlight Initiative to Eliminate Violence Against Women and Girls, held in Abakiliki, Ebonyi state.
“The information we got from the data for Nigeria indicates that one out of every three women in Nigeria has experienced violence in one way or the other.
“It can be trauma, it can be rape, assault or violence and United Nations and European Union are looking at the opportunity and trying to help the state government to reduce some of these menace in Nigeria.
“On culture, we have six pillars that we are working on, and number three pillar is on prevention and that is looking at the root causes, all the cultural issues.
“For example, some African men are fond of assaulting their wives while many believe women should stay in the kitchen.
“These are issues we are going to work on and we are using this opportunity to task traditional rulers and community leaders to try to work in this direction to eliminate these cultural practices so that we can overcome them and give liberty to women to live their normal lives.
“Also, ending violence against women and girls is not a short-term endeavor. It requires coordinated and sustained efforts from all of us”, he explained.
Daily Trust gathered that Ebonyi, Cross River, Adamawa, FCT and Sokoto were among the successful states selected by United Nations and European Union for the implementation of the “Spotlights Initiative to Eliminate Violence Against Women and Girls in Nigeria.”
The workshop, which was flagged off on Monday by the state Governor, Engr. David Umahi, had over 2,000 participants including women, and traditional rulers.
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