68,000 Cases of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Recorded In Less Than Four Years in Nigeria

About 68,000 cases of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) have been recorded in less than four years.

1,250 victims lost their lives to the violence during the 2020-2023 period.

Senator Ireti Kingibe announced the figure at a news conference held to mark the end of a 16-day nationwide activism against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence.

During the period, Kingibe said over 9,000 cases were opened against offenders, with 455 convictions.

Over 8,000 are still pending in courts, while over 1,800 of the cases were withdrawn either by courts, families, and communities of victims of the violence.

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Senator Kingibe who is the chairperson of the Senate Women Affairs Committee, said her committee has floated initiatives to effectively deal with the threat.

She said, To curb the rising cases of GBV in the FCT, I will engage ward volunteers, known as Orange Marshalls who will monitor and report cases of violence against women and girls, in January 2024.

Sadly, the number of GBV convictions is nothing to go by. The number of fatalities is over 1,250.

Since the launch of the National Data Situation Room, over 28,000 GBV cases have been reported nationwide.

In all those cases over 9000 have been opened against offenders while over 8,000 are still pending in various courts, and over 8800 cases have been withdrawn either by the courts,

By the middle of January, I would call for volunteers from the wards who will be orange marshalls to monitor SGBV in their respective wards and report it.

Speaking on gender bills expected from her, she pointed out that laws were already in place, but noted that enforcing them has been the problem.

The Betta Arts Festival film screening organiser, Bikiya Graham-Douglas said the idea behind the filming was to “tell stories from Africa on sexual gender-based violence.