30 million Nigerian women, girls victim of sexual violence-Expert

Ogunsakin Mustapha
3 Min Read

By Olalekan Awojodu, Abuja

A Professor of law and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking, Professor Joy Ngozi Ezilo has again raised the alarm that about 30 million women and girls may have fell victims of Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in Nigeria.

According to the expert, unless new innovations are brought into laws, it might be difficult to fight the scourge, expressing worries that drug influence and spate of insecurity has increased the scourge in the country.

Ezilo gave the hint on Monday at a program tagged; 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence/ Mock Sexual and Gender based Violence Court held in Abuja.

The Moot Court trial is organized by the Federal Ministry of Justice, FCT High Court in collaboration with the European Union (EU) through the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) program.

She hinted that the events was organized to demonstrate the reality with regards to criminal justice system when it comes to victims and survival of SGBV in search of judgement.

“Sometimes, while some of these things goes on, there are low accountability or prosecution, just as little technicality can make a viable case not to lead to conviction. Sad enough, the ratio of the number of such incidence is as much as 30 million of our population if daily reports and research is anything to go by. On our part, we are trying to look at what new innovations extant laws like ACJA, NAPTIP Act etc has brought to bear in overcoming these challenges,”

Ezilo thereafter hailed VAP adoption across the States, saying with proper implementations, it would help to bridge the gaps in the laws.

Speaking earlier at the event, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN renewed government’s commitment to addressing SGBV and protecting the victims.

Represented by a Director in the Public Prosecution Department, Abdulrahim Shuaibu, the AGF restated needs to train more judges to handle SGBV, need to protect evidences and it’s management.

Malami said, ” After the establishment of 31SARCs, there have been free and immediate emergency medical treatment, counselling and follow-up support to survivors of rape and social assault, including support for their engagement with the legal system,”

In a brief remarks, former AGF and Minister of Justice, Adetokunbo Kayode, SAN blamed culture based interference and society structure as bane of proceedings, he then advocated the need for more procedural measure tas way out.

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