Eradicating Gender-Based Violence In Nigeria

Efforts towards the elimination of gender-based violence (GBV) in the country took a different dimension a few days ago with the launch of the National Gender-Based Violence Data Situation Room and Dashboard in Abuja.
A joint effort of the federal government and EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, the room with trained data officers, provides a register where perpetrators of gender-based violence can be named and shamed.
In the words of the Minister for Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, “Now the shaming should be the perpetrators not the victims and with more advocacies and getting more he or she to speak for us, we will get there.”
She said, “The National Data Situation Room is an innovation data management and visualization platform which is expected to use technology to enable government, decision-makers and programme managers view and analyze gender-based violence data with ease. The situation room is hinged on the pillar five of the Spotlight Initiative: theory of change on data management in Nigeria implemented by UNDP, Population Council and other partners in close collaboration with the state ministries.”
The prevalence of both reported and unreported GBV cases across the country which heightened during the Covid-19 lockdown is said to have made the establishment of the data room inevitable with the aim of eradicating the scourge by the year 2030. Recall that the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, recently disclosed that about 717 rape cases were reported within five months of Covid-19 peak period. Tallen, on the other hand, put the number of reported GBV cases across the country at 3600 with each state recording at least 100 cases.
A recent UNWOMEN report disclosed that as countries implemented lockdown measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus, violence against women, especially domestic violence, intensified – in some countries, calls to helplines have increased five-fold. In others, formal reports of domestic violence have decreased as survivors find it harder to seek help and access support through the regular channels. School closures and economic strains left women and girls poorer, out of school and out of jobs, and more vulnerable to exploitation, abuse, forced marriage, and harassment.
But the questions being asked by many remain, is the Data Situation Room panacea for the malaise which had persisted for ages? What else can be done to curtail gender-based violence in the country?
Lady Doris Onyeneke, the visioner of Mother of Good Counsel Initiative, Port Harcourt , whose organization has been in the forefront of the fight against GBV and other gender issues  thinks the Data Situation Room or the Offenders Register, as some may choose to call it,  will go a long way in dealing with the scourge. She said it is one of the measures many non-governmental organizations have been advocating for which will deter potential perpetrators of GBV, maintaining that if popularized, it will reduce the prevalence of GBV in our society.
She said, “Considering the level of impunity and insensitivity in our society, one could say that people might not care if there is any register or not. They will go ahead with what they want to do. But some people will definitely care and that way, it will reduce the cases no matter how little.”
Sharing her opinion on the causes of GBV, especially during the lockdown, she said, “the major causes for those that were reported is financial pressure. Businesses were shut down. There was no market. It just came without plan and lack of finance became an issue in many families.
“I also noticed that couples don’t marry their friends. Many don’t marry out of love. Such couples that have not always been together maybe because of their jobs, were forced to stay together and instead of seeing the lockdown as an opportunity to appreciate themselves and enjoy their relationship, it turned out to be quarreling, fighting all the way.” Onyeneke observed that poor cooking by some wives, poverty, lack of education, negative masculinity, and isolation also exacerbated the problem.
In the views of the National Deputy President of Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Mrs. Lilian Okonkwo, creating a data situation room for GBV is a right step in the right direction. She said that for a long time victims or survivors of GBV have been the ones shamed and judged by the society and that it was high time the narrative changed, adding that such measures will expose the perpetrators, help deter other people and above all, give the victims a sense of justice.
Mrs. Okonkwo is, however, apprehensive that the National Data Situation Room, if care is not taken, might go the way of many laws and treaties entered into by the country  that bear no fruit due to lack of implementation. “My challenge in this case is that as a people, it is easy for us to sign treaties and documents and make laws. It is the ability to carry it through that is our problem”, she said.
Both Onyeneke and Okonkwo were of the opinion that beyond the establishment of the Data situation room, states that are yet to adopt the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) (VAPP) Act, should delay no further in doing so; our justice system should improve on handling cases of GBV, by giving such cases speedy attention; those in authority, particularly governors’ wives, should ensure that justice prevails; there should be a gender bias free society; there should be equality for both male and female; the male folk should help in the campaign against GBV. “At the community levels, we have our chiefs, kings and elders, if they speak against GBV, it will go a long way to solving the problem,”  the NAWOJ boss insisted.
For Onyeneke, parents have a huge role to play to ensure that their children are not victims of GBV. They should give both their boys and girls proper training, educate them, provide for them and do not abandon them for society.  She further advised, “Men should get involved in the campaign. Stop the discrimination. Stop the obnoxious and harmful cultural practices against women. The security agencies and the society should stop blaming the victims or judging them. We shouldn’t forget that anybody can be a victim.”
Some analysts have also opined that beyond naming and shaming, it is imperative to educate the young men who are the major perpetrators of the act. “Young men and women must be educated on the evils of rape and the trauma that accompanies it,” they advised, maintaining that GBV is not limited to women, that in many cases, men are also victims of abuse but they hardly speak out.
According to them, there are cases of young men being sexually abused by older women, insisting that one major task of NGOs and other bodies championing the eradication of GBV in the country is to see how they can encourage men who had suffered one form of abuse or the other to speak out and get the help that they need. “They should also be encouraged to speak out, to name and shame their abusers,” they said
Some other people have also opined that actions to eradicate GBV should not be limited to the 16 days of activism to end gender-based violence (November 25 to December 10), when ministries of women affairs in the states and at the federal level, various gender-based organisations and female activists adorn orange colour fabrics in solidarity with the campaign. Rather, they say, it should be a daily affair.
For a lawyer, Emeka Ogenyi, a major clog in the wheel of progress as far as GBV is concerned in Nigeria is the very weak implementation of the laws.  He noted that the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act which makes copious provisions with the aim of addressing issues like GBV is not being adequately implemented.
He pointed out that chapter four of the Nigerian Constitution makes provision for fundamental human rights, one of which is dignity of human person.”GBV is a glaring violation of this right but nothing substantial has been achieved in this regard. Consequently, the offenders have not been deterred. Our judicial system has failed and almost at the point of collapse. People believe that they can commit this crime and stay forever in court. The slow pace of justice in Nigeria appears to encourage GBV,” he posited.
He advised that for the dream of eradicating GBV in 2030 to be realized, the relevant laws must be implemented to deter offenders; courts should treat GBV matters with dispatch because it touches on one’s fundamental human rights; creation of a special court to try such offences may also be considered.
The Istanbul Convention (Council of Europe, Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence), frames gender-based violence and violence against women as a gendered act which is ‘a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women’, resulting in ‘physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.’
In the words of an international DJ, producer, author and motivational speaker, DJ Kyos, “When we fight each other. We will defeat each other. When we fight Gender Based Violence. We will defeat Gender Based Violence. Most women fight every man and most men fight every woman, thinking they are fighting Gender Based Violence. Until men and women choose to fight the enemy which is GBV instead of fighting each other. That is when we will defeat Gender Based Violence. It’s not certain people or celebrities who should fight this, but it is everyone’s calling.”

By:  Calista Ezeaku