For Dr. Nene Oluwagbohun, gender-based violence (GBV) is far more than a distant statistic or a passing news headline. It is a deeply personal and painful reality—one that shapes the lives of millions of women and girls across Nigeria, often in silence and behind closed doors.
With nearly two decades of experience as a mental health advocate and GBV specialist, Dr. Oluwagbohun has become a leading voice in the battle to expose and combat this hidden crisis, dedicating her work to breaking the cycle of abuse in Nigerian homes and communities.
Based in the United States but deeply connected to Nigerian society, Dr. Oluwagbohun has dedicated her career to coaching parents, mentoring teenagers, and intervening in family crises. Her approach to advocacy is grounded in data, but driven by deep empathy and lived experience.
She paints a sobering picture of the gender-based violence (GBV) landscape in Nigeria: one in three women has experienced some form of violence, with nearly a third reporting physical abuse by the age of 15—most often at the hands of intimate partners.
For Dr. Oluwagbohun, this work is far from theoretical. It is urgent and rooted in the devastating reality of lives lost and futures destroyed. In 2022 alone, 401 Nigerian women reportedly died as a result of sexual and gender-based violence. By 2024, the country had already recorded 149 cases of femicide.
“The scars we hide are not just physical—they are emotional, economic, and social,” she said, underscoring the far-reaching impact of GBV on individuals and communities.
Dr. Oluwagbohun’s advocacy spans the full spectrum of gender-based violence, addressing issues such as domestic abuse, female genital mutilation, economic abuse, and child marriage. She consistently draws attention to the cultural and societal norms that perpetuate these abuses in Nigeria.
“Nigeria ranks third globally in the number of child brides, and 11th in the child marriage rate,” she notes grimly—highlighting a disturbing reality where tradition too often overrides human rights.
Her voice grew even more urgent during the COVID-19 pandemic, when cases of GBV surged by 149% within just two weeks across 23 states. The lockdowns, she explains, trapped many women and girls in close and prolonged proximity to their abusers, intensifying the risks they already faced.
While Dr. Oluwagbohun acknowledges the legislative strides Nigeria has made—most notably the passage of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act (VAPP) in 2015—she remains clear-eyed about its shortcomings. The VAPP Act, which criminalizes various forms of abuse and provides legal remedies for survivors, has been fully domesticated in only 15 of Nigeria’s 36 states. This legislative gap leaves millions of Nigerians without protection, allowing cycles of silence and suffering to persist.
“Nigeria has about 20 million GBV survivors—that’s nearly 10 percent of the global total,” she points out. Yet, she warns, these figures barely scratch the surface. Social stigma, fear of retaliation, and deep-seated distrust in the justice system prevent many incidents from ever being reported.
Dr. Oluwagbohun is particularly concerned about the heightened vulnerability of marginalized groups—women with disabilities, market women, and child domestic workers—who face disproportionate risks due to social isolation and economic dependency. “The system is stacked against them, and help is often out of reach,” she said.
Oluwagbohun is unrelenting in her call for systemic reform. She advocates for broader domestication of the VAPP Act, increased funding for shelters and support services, better training for law enforcement, and a nationwide education campaign to dismantle cultural taboos around GBV. She is also alarmed by efforts to repeal or water down the VAPP Act, a move she sees as a dangerous regression. “This is not the time to weaken protections. It is the time to strengthen them,” she warned.
To Oluwagbohun, the fight against gender-based violence is personal, political, and profoundly urgent. Her message is clear: silence is complicity, and every Nigerian has a role to play in ensuring safety, dignity, and justice for women and girls. “Until every Nigerian home is truly safe, our work is not done,” she affirmed.
Education And Career
Dr. Nene C. Oluwagbohun is an award-winning author and a certified coach in several specialties, including Life, Teen, Parent, and Menopause Coaching. She is the host of Family Table Talk, a talk show that addresses real-life family issues from a Kingdom perspective.
She is a member of several esteemed professional bodies, including the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC), the International Christian Coaching Association (ICCA), and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).
Dr. Oluwagbohun is the founder of You and Your Child (YYC), a non-profit organization dedicated to partnering with parents to foster healthy, empowered mindsets in raising children. She also serves as the President of the Global Change Agent Academy, an institution committed to nurturing the next generation of leaders.
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