TACKLING GROWING GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
All stakeholders should do more to bring comfort to the violated
It is unfortunate that violence continues to manifest itself in new forms and trends against women and girls in Nigeria. The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has revealed that Nigeria recorded 2,755 cases of gender-based and intimate partner violence within the first four months of 2026, averaging 23 reported cases daily, while only 4 per cent of reported cases reached legal accountability. “Females account for over 81 per cent of survivors and sexual violence constituting more than 82 per cent of reported abuses, particularly among adolescents aged 10 to 14 years,” Sulaiman-Ibrahim said to highlight the growing challenge of gender-based violence in the country.
We commend the proposed collaboration involving the ministry, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) and the ‘New Era Foundation’, an initiative of the First Lady, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu. The idea, according to reports, is to establish a ‘Patience Home’ that would offer survivors access to safe shelter, psychosocial support, healthcare services, legal assistance, rehabilitation, and economic empowerment opportunities. The ministry is expected to oversee day-to-day management, social services, legal support, advocacy, and empowerment programmes while the NPHCDA will coordinate healthcare delivery and quality assurance. The ‘New Era Foundation’ will provide the facility and infrastructure required for the home’s operations. The idea of establishing safe spaces across all the 774 local government areas and the deployment of ‘Women on Wheels’ mobile response units to provide trauma-informed care at the grassroots are also laudable.
