International Women’s Day: Tackling Scourge Of Sexual, Domestic, Gender-Based Violence In Nigeria

 https://newtelegraphng.com/international-womens-day-tackling-scourge-of-sexual-domestic-gender-based-violence-in-nigeria

 

Yemi Olakitan 

 

Sexual, domestic and gender-based violence has over the years assumed a worrisome proportion. The act in Nigeria is not any different, with many victims, particularly young girls and married women, reeling from the scourge. YEMI OLAKITAN, in this two-part series, examines the development

 

The Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, Titilola VivourAdeniyi said the state government has adopted a two-prong approach to addressing the menace of SGBV, which include prevention and providing immediate support to survivors.

While admitting that the state records more than 300 reported SGBV cases monthly, Vivour-Adeniyi said the agency is providing medical, legal, psychosocial, counselling, rescue and sometimes, empowerment to SGBV survivors.

She added, “Since, September 2023, we’ve noticed that we attend to an average of 300 new clients monthly for SGBV, and domestic and sexual violence for all gender – men, women, boys and girls.

“Now, the domestic and sexual violence agency is the statutory agency set up by the state government to prevent and ensure holistic response is provided to incidents of sexual and gender-based violence.

“What we do, in essence, is adopt a twoformed approach. “In the unfortunate instance that the case has happened, we ensure that the whole referral pathway is activated.

What that means is survivors, as you would appreciate, require multi-disciplinary and various services. They require medical, legal, psychosocial, counselling, rescue sometimes, empowerment, and of course, access to justice.

“In the cases of rape, and sexual violence; they need to make sure they access medical attention, ensure the case is represented as a dissertation, and then get a survivor advocate to accompany the survivor to ensure that they stay through the course and the case is subsequently assigned to the high court.

She further disclosed, “In terms of domestic violence, the response is not so straight forward because we are dealing with adults. We are survivor centres; so, we try to do what the survivor wants within the ambit of the law.

“Long and short of the story, we strive to make sure that when survivors report, they can access to holistic support.” On the government’s effort to prevent reoccurrence of cases, she said, “In terms of prevention, which we are very heavy on, what we’ve tried to do is use data to drive policy making.

“The data that we’ve been keeping for the past five, six, and seven years has helped us to identify local governments with high prevalence. It has helped us to conduct surveys and commission research to understand society’s perception of these issues.

“And so, with the information gathered, we’re now able to programme scientifically. “What we’ve done is to map out the different stakeholders in the society.

We’re looking at children, young people, adults, and community leaders. We’re looking at religious clerics, traditional rulers, men and women. We’re also looking at how to mainstream gender equality and discrimination.

How we can mainstream that into the different sectors for sustainability purposes.” She added that the government is leveraging on introducing issues like gender-based violence, gender equality, gender equity, patriarchy, masculinity, and femininity into the education institution for sustainability purposes.

Vivour-Adeniyi added, “Another one we’re doing is engaging the registrars on marriages, as well as the churches and the mosques to introduce compulsory pre-marital counselling, compatibility tests and issues of gender-based violence during their compulsory counselling sessions.

“Research has shown that at least, 60 per cent of the survivors saw the signs of domestic violence during courtship. But for whatever reason, perhaps they didn’t understand the enormity of what they were dealing with, and for whatever reason, they chose to go ahead with the relationship.

‘‘Another area we’re looking at is from the preventive lens, to work closely with the traditional rulers. We go to their kingdoms.

They invite us to their kingdoms and we engage with the populace on these issues, empowering them with information, more importantly, empowering them with information as the services that exist in their communities,” she stressed.

In the report, the Executive Secretary of DSVA, emphasised the agency’s dedication to providing comprehensive care and support for survivors, including medical, legal, psychosocial, and empowerment services, along with rescue operations and access to justice.

Vivour-Adeniyi noted that the collaborative efforts with government departments, partner organisations, gender experts, law enforcement, NGOs, mental health professionals, social services, healthcare providers, and the legal system, are aimed at addressing and reducing domestic and sexual violence in Lagos State.

“The Lagos State government is unwavering in its commitment to protecting vulnerable populations and ensuring a safe environment for all residents,” she said.

Lagos CP

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Olanrewaju Ishola, noted that most perpetrators of cases of sexual offences and domestic violence are always related to the victims. He assured of the law enforcement agency’s readiness to curb such criminal acts.

This is as he noted, “I would like to remind you that such criminal acts are not physical. They attract emotional downturn on victims. Safety is not spared in the aftermath because the victim sees everyone as not to be trusted and by that inciting fear.

“It is so unsettling that such crimes and violent acts are perpetrated by trusted ones. That is the most unsettling thing about sexual offences and domestic violence.”

Cases of assaults

On Saturday, February, 26, 2024, a 22-yearold female fashion designer, Oluwabamise Ayanwola, went missing after boarding a BRT bus in Lagos. Her lifeless body was found by the roadside on Carter Bridge, Lagos Island days later.

The prosecutor of the case said the bus driver, Nice Ominnikoron, conspired with others at large and forcefully had sexual intercourse with the passenger, Ayanwole, without her consent and thereafter murdered her.

Omininikoron was arraigned before Justice Sherifat Sonaike on four counts bordering on conspiracy, murder and rape.

During the court sitting, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Dr Jide Martins, told the court that the defendant had on November 25, 2021, allegedly raped another lady (name withheld), aged 29.

Expert’s view

The Head of Programmes, Rule of Law and Anti-corruption Programme, Danladi Plang, described sexual offences and domestic violence as a plague, expressing assurance to work with the state’s judiciary to nip it in the bud.

According to him, “There is no greater comfort to a government to see that real people benefit from the work and action of the government and therefore this is important not just to the government but also to us that support the government.

“From our own side as a programme, we will continue to support the state. We have about five judges representing their CJ from the five states we are working with and hat we are planning to do is to know how we can support the state’s judiciary, automating their court process and upgrading.”

On May 27, 2020, Vera Uwaila Omozuwa, a 22-year-old Microbiology student, who sought the quiet of her empty church in Benin City, Edo State in southern Nigeria, as a place to study, was raped and killed in a crime that sparked outrage across Nigeria and beyond.

This ugly incident led groups of protesters to march across the country to demand justice for Uwa. The hashtag #JusticeforUwa trended on social media at the time. It was a classic case of violence against the female gender by criminal elements within the society.

According to a report by the Nigerian Police in Kano State, the spate of rapes in the state is worrisome. The police cited an attack on an 80-year-old and children as young as 10 years old as examples.

The police also stated that there has been a recent wave of rape and killing of women in Nigeria, which have led to a national outcry, with thousands signing a petition and using the hashtag #WeAreTired.

“We stand in solidarity with all fellow Nigerians, like-minded groups and institutions to condemn the incessant incidences of gender based violence, including sexual violence.

The police noted, ‘‘we are aware that under the Nigerian criminal code, the VAPP and Child Right Act, the punishment for rape is life imprisonment, and under the Penal code it is a maximum of 14 year imprisonment.

Recorded incidences of un-prosecuted rape cases in the country shows, however, that these laws are not being fully implemented.

“We are therefore calling on all the relevant authorities to act swiftly in arresting and prosecuting perpetrators of these evil acts and ensure that they face the full wrath of the law to deter all other possible perpetrators of rape.”

Organ harvest

The unlawful trafficking of human organs for transplantation, known as organ harvesting, is another contributor to violence against women. It is an increasing global concern. Nigeria, like many other countries, is not immune to this bleak reality.

The perilous world of organ harvesting in Nigeria is dark and foreboding. It has a tangible impact on individuals, families, and society as a whole. Women and girls are usually the target of these evil acts in the country.

Nigeria is experiencing a rise in covert crime, as evidenced by a 2013 scandal involving a “baby factory” in a south eastern state. The scandal revealed a criminal network involved in illegal activities, including alleged organ harvesting.

The scandal primarily focused on the trafficking of infants, but also implicated organ harvesting in human trafficking.

In 2017, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) discovered a criminal network involved in the unlawful removal and trafficking of human kidneys.

A number of people, including doctors and medical staff, have been arrested and accused of crimes related to organ harvesting. In 2018, a mass grave with the bodies of alleged victims was found in Anambra State, believed to be victims of organ trafficking.

An investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC) revealed a private hospital in Ibadan was engaged in illicit kidney transplant.

In 2020, a man was arrested in Lagos State for allegedly luring individuals with promises of employment opportunities, only to abduct and forcibly remove their organs.

In June 2023, the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) denied allegations of missing intestines of a 13-year-old patient, Adebola Akin-Bright, after he underwent corrective surgery without willfully removing any organ or structure.

The state Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, promised to take up the boy’s treatment abroad, but he died shortly thereafter before the required reprieve.

Call for interventions

An Islamic cleric, Alfa Raji Opeyemi Aiyeopepo, based at Dopemu Mosque, Agege, was emphatic that Islam frowns at violence against women in any form.

He emphasised this through various Islamic recitations and explained that women are a delicate specie and needed to be treated with gentleness and all humanity.

“Islam does not encourage violence against women, whether domestic violence or through mafia like cults that have become prevalent among the youths,” he said.

Alfa Opeyemi advocated that a comprehensive interventions are necessary, focusing on education, economic empowerment, and community engagement.

He said, “Our prophet Mohamed taught us to teach women with the utmost care. The Holy Qur’an clearly illustrate the relationship between spouses.

The Qur’an says the relationship is based on peace, unconditional love, tenderness, protection, encouragement, kindness, comfort, justice and mercy.” The Muslim cleric noted that Muhammad, set direct examples of these ideals of a marital relationship in his personal life.

“There is no clearer prophetic saying about a husband’s responsibility toward his wife than his response when asked, he told us to: give her food when you take food, clothe her when you clothe yourself, do not revile her face, and do not beat her,” he added.

He cautioned Nigerian youths against cultism, get rich quick schemes and warmed young women against ‘Hook Ups,’ which have become prevalent culture among our young women today.

These things expose women to violent death, rape, human trafficking, ritual killing, organ trafficking, among others. According to him, secret societies are one of the agents of gender-based violence in Nigeria.

They have been banned in Nigeria and hundreds of members have been arrested and prosecuted over the years. Nevertheless, they continue to operate, especially on universities’ campuses, where they still attract new members.

These cults have been accused of being behind serious violence, including killings, at universities across the country and sometimes harassing lecturers for good grades.

In some cases, students are lured with promises of networking opportunities. Secret societies now operate off campus as well, often with members who never went to university. They have increasingly resorted to crime.

Soyinka absolves Pirates

Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka’s role in formation of the confraternity system in Nigeria was not violent, according to reports. It began in 1952, during the last years of British colonial rule, by a set of young idealistic men.

They included Wole Soyinka at Nigeria’s University of Ibadan in Oyo State in south-western Nigeria. In an Interview, Professor Wole Soyinka said, “At no time did we imagine that anything could degenerate”.

According to the Nobel Prize Winner, the original founders, known as the Magnificent Seven, were committed to the pirate theme. They used to even pretend to be pirates, wearing bandanas and carrying cutlasses.

He described the present confraternities as “vile, evil groups. “I never imagined that any universitybased group could actually adopt a mafia style, which involved manhood tests like raping, robbery, arms, murder, kidnapping.

The Pirates, of which Soyinka is still a member, now exist as a group dedicated to “humanitarian and charitable endeavours.”

At the University of Port Harcourt in the mid-1990s, a cult leader was decapitated and his bloodied head was hung on a pole at the university’s entrance as a sign of triumph.

Cult violence on campuses has decreased in recent years. It was at its worse in the 1980s and 1990s when Nigeria witnessed numerous coups.

Religious angle

Oba Aje Olokun Olosa, a cleric of Isese traditional religion in Lagos, spoke along similar lines, insisting that there was no basis for gender-based and sexual violence in the society.

He said, “In Yoruba traditional religion, which we called, Isese, women are our mothers and daughters and are to be treated with utmost respect. It is not ‘Iwa Omoluwabi,’ for a woman to strike a man or for man to strike a woman that is forbidden.

‘‘Yoruba people, no matter the religion they practice frown at such behavior. You cannot have religion without culture. Isese is Yoruba traditional religion so it inherent in our religion to protect, cherish and care for our women. In return, our women are expected to love and respect the men as well.

There is absolutely no place for violence in Isese religion.” Speaking further, the traditional religion cleric noted, “There is no violence in our sacred scriptures. You cannot find any Odu Ifa that directs a man to beat his woman or a woman to beat his man.

Orunmila is the central figure in Isese religion and he married and had children. Similarly, Ogun, Sango, Esu are deities. ‘‘They are the messengers of Olodumare the supreme being. Olodumare is God.

The Orisha are like the prophets of other religion who visited the earth at one time or the other with supernatural powers. They all married women and treated them with love and respect.”

Speaking further, he said, “Respect is an important factor in our culture. If you practice the culture of respect to both young and old as prescribed in our sacred scriptures, you cannot tolerate domestic violence of any kind.”

When asked whether his religion promotes cultism, he said, “No we don’t need to be secretive, cultic or violent if we want others to join our religion. Our religion does not permit or encourage violence at all. Ifa does not approve violence,” he said.

World Bank’s intervention

According to the World Bank, the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence is essential for reaching development goals and creating an inclusive and resilient.

Therefore, countries and organisations can make intentional, multi-sectoral investments to address this challenge. Increasing investment in women and girls, alongside increased investment in intentional evidence-based programming to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls will allow women to develop freely to reach their full potential.

Violence is preventable, and everyone, especially governments, has a role to play. Investments cannot be one off—they must become part of the DNA of society and institutions.

With investment in addressing SDGBV, a more sustainable development and safer and better place will be achieved for a woman or girl to live in.

USAID’s report

A report by the United Agency for International Development (USAID) also stressed that in order to foster a thriving society, equal rights, safe self-expression, and freedom from intimidation, harassment, discrimination, and prevention of violence for all individuals is a must.

Preventing and responding to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) globally is crucial for upholding human rights, justice, equity, and equality.

The report further stated that, while SGBV affects individuals of all gender identities, women, girls, and LGBTQI+ individuals face heightened risk due to societal inequality.

Endnote

 

In Nigeria, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Nigeria can be prevented if the federal government of Nigeria can take legislative steps such as strengthening laws and policies, reviewing and amending existing laws to ensure adequate protection for victims and prosecution of perpetrators.

It may also be necessary to establish a national SGBV agency and launch grassroots engagement structures, making it easy for victims to report and seek protection and justice in the case of SGBV.

It is also important to for state governments to support community initiatives as well as Non-Governmental Organisations efforts aimed at preventing SGBV crimes in the country.

As published in the New Telegraph Newspaper