Gender equality advocate and Executive Director of Boundless Hands Africa Initiative, Titilayo Ogunbambi, talks to LARA ADEJORO about the need to end gender-based violence
The Federal Government has made several pledges to end discrimination against women and gender-based violence. What is your assessment of its efforts so far?
Recently, the Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, assured Nigerian women that the President would implement the court judgment reserving 35 per cent of appointments in public offices for women groups. So far, so good, the President has been taking some actions to end gender-based violence and support women’s issues in Nigeria. You will recall that during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum declared a state of emergency on the increasing rate of sexual and gender-based violence in the country. The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs is also doing a good mainstreaming of gender, including gender-based violence data harmonisation to paint a clear picture for proper planning. We have seen a significant increase in the number of states that have domesticated the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act, and also the national gender policy was reviewed last year. More can be done by domesticating these laws and states, understanding the rights and roles of the local government, and education is critical for all stakeholders. I recommend that all hands be on the deck, and gender should keep on being on the front burner for the government and all government agencies that have a role to play in ending GBV.
How will you say the VAPP Act has fared so far in Nigeria?
We are making some level of progress because some states have domesticated the VAPP Act. The journey to achieving this progress has been a rigorous one, involving advocacy activities, dialogues, consultations, reviews, etc. Obviously, there have been a lot of setbacks with some states but I see progress with the law as it is the first to clearly prohibit all forms of violence against persons in private and public life and provide maximum protection and effective remedies for victims and punishment for offenders. However, just as many other laws in Nigeria, the VAPP Act faces the issue of implementation and lack of funding, while some existing laws are also contradicting the act, for example, the Penal Code in northern Nigeria, which allows husbands to beat their wives for correctional purposes. So we need to ensure that other laws are amended properly to address the issues of laws overlapping in some states. To make the needed progress, we need to continue to engage all stakeholders. It is not just about making the laws, cultural beliefs and traditional practices have to be eroded for us to see the shift from the status quo and also demand accountability to ensure implementation by all stakeholders and service providers. It is not enough to pass the law, the gap in enforcing the VAPP law is also critical and has to be addressed for us to see progress in ending gender-based violence and achieving gender equality in Nigeria.
It seems reports on GBV are focused on mostly females rather than males. Why is that so?
If GBV happens to more women than men it is only natural to see reports indicating more women. GBV is a human rights violation and a public health problem affecting both males and females. Statistics have also shown that globally, as many as one out of every three women, while in Nigeria, 30 per cent of girls and …….