Still On Gender-based Violence

This year’s 2025 commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence from November 25 to December 10, ricocheted around the world with activities highlighting the day.

It focused on ending Technology-facilitated (TF) Gender-based Violence (GBV)with this year’s United Nations (UN) Women’s theme “UNiTE to End Digital Violence against All Women and Girls.”

This global campaign calls for laws against digital abuse, safer tech platforms, investment in women’s organisations, and individual action to combat online harassment, deepfakes, sextortion, and other forms of tech-enabled harm, promoting digital spaces for empowerment, not abuse.

According to the Women at Risk International Foundation, gender-based violence has continued to cast a long shadow across communities in Nigeria, leaving many women and girls vulnerable and marginalised.

As a newspaper, we are worried that incidences of GBV remains extremely high in the country and even beyond with significant increases reported.

Pathfinder, another nongovernmental organisation (NGO)noted that sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is a global pandemic that affects one in three women.
According to the organisation, women across the world, regardless of income, age or education, are subject to physical, sexual, psychological and economic violence. sexual and gender-based violence

Research shows alarming spikes, like a 240 per cent rise in femicide this year and thousands of domestic/sexual violence cases monthly, indicating a worsening crisis despite ongoing awareness and initiatives in the country.

In Nigeria, the government said no fewer than 10,326 Gender-Based Violence (GBV) cases were reported between January and September 2025, with 2,444 survivors receiving care in recovery centres.

The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imam Suleiman-Ibrahim, who made this known at the National Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue on Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TF-GBV) as part of activities to mark the 2025 16 Days of Activism, said though there was a decline in the 2024 National Demographic and Health Survey in sexual violence, physical violence, and intimate partner violence, yet, current national data shows that one in every three Nigerian women will experience gender-based violence in her lifetime, with 70 per cent of cases occurring in homes and often perpetrated by intimate partners or trusted persons.

According to the minister, TF-GBV, which includes sex torture, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, online blackmail, and manipulation of digital platforms, has caused severe trauma and, in some cases, fatalities.

Sadly, we recognise that real-time national data is complex due to reporting variations and funding gaps.

The National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) May 2025 Human Rights Assessment Dashboard, reflected a five per cent increase in complaints compared to April.

It said it received a total of 275,256 complaints of human rights violations across Nigeria with a sharp rise in killings (+160 per cent) and kidnappings (+240 per cent)—notably in Benue, Plateau, and Borno States.

However, the Commission said there was worrying trends in sexual and gender-based violence, 3,361 cases of domestic violence and 1,152 incidents of sexual violence reported with escalating incidences against children, including defilement, abduction, and child trafficking.

All across the country, issues of gender violence are rampant and a painful reality.

Last September, while celebrating the Domestic and Sexual Violence Awareness Month, the Lagos State government announced that between August 2024 and July 2025, the state received a total of 8, 692 cases through both physical and virtual referrals; 3,685 cases of domestic violence, 243 cases of child defilement and 244 cases of child abuse, 99 cases of rape, 48 cases of sexual harassment, and 25 cases of sexual assault by penetration.

Unfortunately, this newspaper recognises that the society is seeming a patriarchy where men are seen to be powerful and domineering.

Still, the minister charged traditional rulers to take firmer leadership in the battle against SGBV as they are the first line of defence for victims of sexual and gender- based violence.

In our view, a lot needs to be done to tackle this hydra- headed monster holistically

Even though government has concluded arrangements to relaunch the National Electronic Dashboard on Gender-Based Violence, there’s need for mandatory gender-sensitive cybercrime training for law enforcement agents
Though all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have domesticated the Child Rights Act and the VAPP Act in 35 states and the FCT, there’s need for implementation.
In our opinion, the final solution is the nation’s justice system and in the words of the minister, laws alone cannot eliminate violence if they are not integrated into cultural norms and community practices.
So there is a need to perhaps review the laws, the penal laws and prescribe stiffer punishments for the offenders.

Also, people should be educated on who they get intimate with even though one cannot be 100 per cent sure of the person. So courtship is important and people should get to know each other better before jumping into any form of relationship .