Women in South West victims of domestic violence, says NGO

No fewer than 37 per cent of women in Southwest Nigeria are victims of domestic violence, a non-governmental organisation, New Initiative for Social Development (NISD) has said. The Executive Director of the NGO, Mr Oyeleye Abiodun made the disclosure at a training for journalists in the Southwest states recently with the support of the British High Commission. The training tagged: ‘Reduction of Discrimination and Violence against Women in Southwest, Nigeria,’ with the aim of creating awareness for the Violence against Persons Prohibition Act 2015 was held in Ado Ekiti.

Violence against women is understood as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women and shall mean all acts of gender-based violence that result in, or are likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coersion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. In her opening remarks, the Acting South West Regional Coordinator, Department for International Development (DFID), Margaret Fagboyo said, the high prevalence and intensity of the violence most times arose as result of local customs, traditional beliefs and value system.

“Unfortunately, the legal and judicial system do not offer much protection against the violence and abuse. The ugly trend is further accentuated by our culture of silence. It has been realised that in these instances, silence is never golden.” Fagboyo further said, “It is disturbing to acknowledge that violence is not a rare, isolated occurrence. It affects individuals from all over the globe-individuals who live in developing countries and those who live in the developed world. However, the situation is more complicated in our environment.

Whilst for instance, rape carries a punishment of life imprisonment in Nigeria, the arduous process of proving rape, the pain and shame of reliving the experience coupled with societal pressure to keep silent, victim blaming, and stigma, often discourage women from reporting sexual violence. “Until the passage of the VAPP bill, there are handful of states in Nigeria with specific laws targeting domestic violence and abuse but there was no federal law specifically addressing the myriads of cases.

However, the content of the new law is tailored towards our environment, reflecting the realities of domestic violence and discrimination in Nigeria today. In addition, the law incorporates relevant provisions of international human rights laws and principles.” She said, given the devastating effect violence has on women and the vulnerable groups, the best way to end violence against women, girls and other groups is to prevent it from happening in the first place by addressing its root and structural causes.

Recall that, after 13 years in the National Assembly, the Violence Against Persons’ Prohibition (VAPP) Bill was passed by the Senate on 5th May, 2015 and signed into law on 24th May, 2015 by former President Goodluck Jonathan. This now gives legal teeth to a law that is billed to eliminate, or reduce to minimum, cases of sexual, and all other forms of discrimination and gender-based violence in the country. Also speaking, Communication Manager and Political Adviser, British Deputy High Commission, Lagos; Mr Wale Adebajo said, women are more than 50 per cent of the world’s population and perform two-thirds of the world’s work but earn only 1/10 of the world’s income.

Adebajo said, women constitute 70 per cent of 1 billion world’s poorest. 49 per cent of Nigerians are women and Nigeria ranks 118 out of 134 countries in Gender Equality Index. “In Nigeria, nearly three in 10 have experienced physical violence since age 15 while 7 per cent have experienced sexual violence. One in four married women have experienced physical sexual or emotional violence. “In Nigeria, especially the southwest states, there is sexual violence in times of peace, how much more in times of insecurity or conflict. Sexual violence largely goes unreported because of the burden of proof necessary for conviction as well as social stigma associated with it,” Adebajo said.

The challenges of the law is that it is not yet known to the people. “The citizens have no access to the law including the justice sector stakeholders which makes it very difficult to enforce,” he noted. Speaking on the statistical dimension of violence against women in Southwest states, (Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey 2013), the NISD boss said, in the Southwest, 37.1 per cent of women have experienced physical violence while 4.6 per cent of women have experienced sexual violence.

Using the 2006 female population census, he said, “25.8 per cent of women in Ekiti; 43.9 per cent in Lagos; 22.8 per cent in Ogun; 43.7 per cent in Ondo; 12.8 per cent in Osun and 48.0 per cent in Oyo States have experienced physical violence respectively. “6.6 per cent women in Ekiti; 5.8 per cent in Lagos; 4.3 per cent in Ogun; 5.2 per cent in Ondo; 2.2 per cent in Osun and 3.9 per cent women in Oyo States have experienced sexual violence respectively.” On Female Genital Mutilation across the six states in south west Nigeria, Abiodun said, “Osun has the highest with 76.6 per cent followed by Ekiti with 72.3 per cent.

While Oyo has 65.5 per cent; Ondo has 45 per cent followed by Lagos with 34.8 per cent and Ogun has 11.2 per cent respectively.” He added that, there are more rape cases in Oyo state than armed robbery. A senior lecturer at the College of Law, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Ikechukwu Okafor said the Violence against Persons Prohibition Act 2015 is a landmark achievement, which is comprehensive and needs to be implemented nationwide. Okafor said, “As a comprehensive and progressive legislation, the Act has provided a template for uniform legislation on violence against persons in Nigeria.

“Understanding the provisions of the Act will help other judges and Magistrates to follow the current legislative thinking on such criminal matters s contained in the Criminal Code, the Panel Code and other legislation relating to violence.” According to the Medical Director/Counsultant Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist at the Pinnacle Medical Services, Lagos; Dr Maymunah Kadiri domestic violence can lead to other common emotional traumas such as depression, anxiety, panic attacks, substance abuse and posttraumatic stress disorder. “Abuse can trigger suicide attempts, psychotic episodes, homelessness and slow recovery from mental illness.”

Kadiri said, many domestic violence survivors do not need mental health treatment, and many symptoms resolve once they and their children are safe and have support. “For others, treatment is in their plan for safety and recovery.”