Ignorance about violence against women is no longer an excuse, it’s a choice
Starting last week, Nigerians have been demanding better accountability at all stakeholder levels as it relates to ensuring mental and physical safety for women, following the death of two young girls; Tina and Uwa.
It began with young Tina who was caught by a stray bullet after a trigger happy policeman misfired his weapon in Lagos on Wednesday. On the same day conversation demanding justice for Tina’s murder gained steam on social media, the attack, rape and eventual death of Uwaila Omozuwa also became another hashtag with a harrowing backstory. According to reports, Uwa’s attackers had followed her to church, where the first year micro-biology student at the University of Benin often studied. Family sources revealed a fire extinguisher may have been used in the attack.
On Thursday, of that week, legendary Nigerian waka singer, Salawa Abeni was working with the Lagos Rapid Response Squad to track down, a blackmailer who was threatening to leak her nude pictures. The suspect has been revealed to be a 19-year old student of Yaba College of Technology, who had been harassing the singer for the past two months. Elsewhere in Jigawa state, on Sunday CID in Dutse revealed eleven men have confessed to raping a 12-year-old girl. According to the Daily Post, the victim named her assaulters, saying the men had been raping her in different locations on repeated occasions.
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At the brink of the global outbreak of coronavirus, it had been speculated due to increased proximity, limited economic resources and other factors, there may be a potential rise in violence against women, specifically in the form of sexual assault. Recently, experts who spoke to Guardian, also say the effects of the COVID-19 crisis could set women back nearly a decade. Nigeria is only a little over two months into, a series of partial restrictions that have affected all sectors of the economy, and every new week seems to come with a new jarring headline that confirms those fears.
For girls like Tina, girls like Uwa, women like Salawa; their stories can no longer be ignored or cast aside. Because these cases are heart-breaking not because of the tweets, videos and wordy think-pieces we see about them, but because it signals a wider-spread problem of persisting violence against many other women, who won’t get media support, their own hashtag or justice in any form.
A case-in-point is an even more recent example of a girl simply named Jennifer, who was gang-raped by 5 boys back in April. On the 1st of May, local papers reported another 17-year old was raped to death by her 30-year old husband, 20 days into their forced arranged marriage. The atrocities committed against these women made the news but didn’t become viral until the outrage for Tina and Uwa overwhelmed social media over the weekend. This inability to adequately track the number of incidences and their frequency is the greatest indicator of the scale of the problem of rape and violence against women in Nigeria.
The statistics are scary and not reassuring at all. Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF) reports that “a National Survey carried out in 2014 on Violence Against Children in Nigeria confirmed one in four females reported experiencing sexual violence in childhood with approximately 70% reporting more than one incident of sexual violence”. Yet in the same year, the Nigerian Correctional Service said 4,436 people were jailed for sex-related crimes.
A 2019 opinion poll conducted by NOIPolls revealed underreporting is a huge factor. And there is no surprise there, because between dealing with stigma and jumping through legal hoops, for a process without any judicial guarantees, women (who survive) may choose not to pursue taking their abusers to court. An academic study on trends of sexual assaults in Lagos south-western Nigeria, published in the Pan African Medical Journal, says of 40 cases of rape (five per cent) are reported as a result.
Today, #JusticeForUwa, #JusticeForJennifer, #JusticeForTina and other related hashtags are part of a viral conversation around police accountability and ending rape culture. Celebrities, government officials, religious institutions, the police, NGOs and everyday people have all chimed and (or) taken to the streets to express displeasure or offer support to victims and their families. However, for lasting change, the outrage that encouraged everyone to speak up—against a society that continues to fail its women—should also go towards emboldening voices. To demand lasting policy solutions, create safe spaces for women and donate or volunteer with organisations like STER, Resilient Aid, WARIF, The Mirabel Centre, The Consent Workshop and more.
Whether we want to take to the streets; rage-tweet at idiots who just don’t get it; encourage women to take their economic independence by the balls through corporate and non-traditional work settings; or have new policies that are followed-through on all levels of government; something has to change. For the sake of girls like Uwa being a passive observer regardless of your gender or social class, is no longer an option, it’s a complicit prerogative.
Image Credits: DNA India