The wife of Nigeria’s Vice President, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo says there is need for greater interventions to end gender-based violence, harmful practices and obstetric fistula in the country.
She stated this on Wednesday at the launch of the National Landscape Analysis Report on Sexual and Gender-based Violence, Harmful Practices and Obstetric Fistula.
The event, organized by the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, in collaboration with the Canadian government and development partners, was held at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
Pointing out that gender-based violence “Is a global pandemic,” Mrs Osinbajo said statistics reveal the menace affects three in 12 women in their lifetime.
“This means 35% of women worldwide have experienced either physical or sexual violence involving a known or unknown person. If these statistics is true, then there is work to be done.
“Daily, women and girls in Nigeria die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Girls did you hear me say and pregnancy and childbirth in the same sentence.
“What is a child doing having a child? That is for adults. Obstetrics fistula is an unfortunate result of early and child marriage.
“According to a 2015 report on maternal mortality by the UN, Nigeria accounts for a significant percentage of all global maternal deaths.”
Mrs Osinbajo said that the data provided in the landscape analysis report would enable all who chose to speak up and act towards a zero tolerance for gender-based violence and harmful practices to target the specific areas of need as revealed.
She said this would lead to the achievement of greater success and higher impact.
“This will help to guide our interventions, provoke effective programs, improve ongoing programs to curb and eventually wipe out GBV and harmful practices in our communities,” she added.
Ripple Effect
Mrs Osinbajo said that looking beyond the victims or survivors of gender-based violence would reveal the ripple effect that each act of violence releases, including drug abuse and suicide.
“These women and girls set in families and communities potentially may choose drug addiction to escape their reality, some suicide to the grief and torment of all their loved ones. Others continue, normal on the outside, but traumatized on the inside.
“A possibility of girls and women, someone’s sister, wife, mother, aunty and even grandmother, altered, changed, broken too in need of repair.”
Commending the UNFPA and other organizations for coming up with the report, Mrs Osinbajo said that for three years programs and projects of the UNFPA in Nigeria have targeted addressing the issues of gender-based violence and harmful practices.
In his remarks, the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar assured them that the National Council of Traditional Rulers would be committed to the implementation of the report.
“As the National Chairman of the National Council of Traditional Rulers in this country, I will, Insha Allah, at our next meeting in December bring out this report to all members to study it and see how we can work with government and other agencies to implement it.
“As the co-chairman of the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council, NIREC, I will Insha Allah, at our next meeting in Lagos in the next couple of weeks, September 27 to be exact, bring out this report for us to consider as religious leaders.”
He explained that the NIREC is the highest body of Christians and Muslims, which meets every three months to look at national issues.
While commending Nigeria for the programmes and policies initiated to tackle gender-based violence and harmful practices in the country, the UNFPA Resident in Nigeria, Ulla Mueller, called on the Nigerian government to prioritize ending sexual and gender-based violence in Nigeria.
Others who spoke at the event were the wife of the Oyo State governor, Mrs Tamuno Makinde; the wife of the Sokoto State governor, Dr Mariya Tambuwal and the representative of the wife of Bauchi State governor, Ladi Ibrahim-Thomas.
PIAK
