The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and civil society organizations (CSOs) in Nigeria on Thursday restated their commitment to collaborate with a view to tacking all forms of gender -based violence in the country as a strategic step towards socio-economic and political empowerment of gender -based violence victims.
The stakeholders, while making this pledge at the formal launching of the NBS’ ‘Gender-Based Violence Case Information Management System’ (GBVCIMS) in Abuja, noted that gender-based violence had been one of the most detestable crimes militating against Nigeria’s sustainable growth, hence the need to collective work together to curb it and give equal opportunities for men and women’s development at all levels.
In his remarks at the forum, the Statistician General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of the NBS, Dr. Simon Harry, who was represented by the Director, Demography and Households Statistics Department, Mr. Adeyemi Adeniran, said the agency decided to develop the system as part of its core mandate of producing reliable and timely statistical data in all areas of national development to guide as tools in policy formulation and implementation.
He said: “In line with the bureau’s mandate, the data generated by responding agencies will be used to provide empirical evidence to support planning aimed at ending Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
“The primary objective on the use of this GBVCIMS data gathering tool is to collect incident data and analyse Gender-Based Violence cases as they occur. Also, the project will generate the required data necessary to inform policy decisions and also to create awareness and strengthen coordination amongst stakeholders within all levels of government”, Harry added.
Speaking on government’s commitment to eradicate all forms of GBV in the country, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women Affairs, Engr. Funso Adebiyi, who represented the Minister, used various statistical data to show the high incidence of GBV in Nigeria remained very high, said the ministry was working with all key stakeholders, including traditional rulers, to address the menace at all levels.
Adebiyi disclosed that the Federal Government, through the ministry, has established GBV offices across the 774 local governments nationwide and deployed staff, who are now capturing all forms GBV at the grassroots, for the purposes of understanding the dimensions and to enable the government, in collaboration with all stakeholders, bring such incidents to the barest minimum in the country.
In her opening remarks at the event, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Resident Representative in Nigeria, Ms. Ulla Mueller, who expressed her delight for being part of the launch of the epoch-making project, explained that data in GBV remained paramount to decision making, programming, and in guiding our actors in both prevention and service delivery.
She noted that over 30% of women and girls in Nigeria had faced some form of violence in Nigeria, but generalized data hardly gives agencies like the UNFPA adequate information to programme sufficiently to protect women and girls.
Represented by the ASRH/HIV National Program Officer, Dr. Babatunde Adelekan, the UNFPA representative said this ugly situation therefore necessitated the need for all stakeholders to come up with systems that are able to deliver data on incident information to guide our day-to-day activities and programme decisions.
According to her, to achieve this, we must move to functional data through the GBV case management programme.
Mueller expatiated: “GBV case management protocols facilitate support of GBV caseworkers’ ability to understand survivors’ social and economic environment, inclusive of their intrapersonal strengths and assets.
“This knowledge contextualizes the disclosed situation of violence, and assesses the survivor’s immediate safety, psychosocial, health, and legal needs, to provide appropriate referrals. This enables gathering real time multisectoral GBV data to support survivors, actors, as well as the GBV programme space.
“When we gather data without offering services through the right methods, we violate the rights of the survivor. Therefore, to ensure the ethical practice we preach, the GBVCIMS offers us the opportunity to ethically gather GBV data according to global standard practice”, she added.
In addition, noting that no single source of data gives comprehensive information for a GBV programme and policy delivery, the UNFPA leader said the National GBVCIMS feeds into other data sources such as actor mappings and GBV surveys to all feed into a central decision-making point.
She expressed optimism that the access and opportunity this tool brings to us will serve greatly toward the elimination of violence against women and girls through better programming.
In her remarks, the UNHCR’s Associate Protection Officer, Mio Shindo-Braaten, commended the NBS on the GBVCIMS for initiating the project and expressed the commission’s readiness to continuously work the Nigerian government to address GBV problems in the country.
She said: “In addition to rape and sexual violence committed to the context of attacks on villages, many women and girls have been raped during or following displacement from their homes. Reports have shown women and girls being targeted while collecting firewood, water or other items, and taking these goods to market to sell in exchange for necessary family items.
“There is also increased potential risks related to camp closure, decommissioning, returns, relocations, and resettlement.
“Gender-based violence case information management system tool provides opportunity to address these risks for UNHCR’s persons of concern as well as the wider Nigerian population. UNHCR commends the effort of all stakeholders that contributed to the development of the tool”, Shindo-Braaten added.
In her goodwill message at the event, Director General of National Senior Citizens Centre (NSCC), Dr. Emem Omokaro, described the NBS’ GBVCIMS project as a desirable initiative that will help in producing reliable data for policy actions on the problem of gender-based violence in the country.
Omokaro, who was represented by his Special Assistant, Mrs. Juliet Kongkor, said NSCC’s vision remained an inclusive society that guarantees senior citizens’ rights to dignified, healthy and secured lives, enabling maximization of their potentials.
She said: “The Gender-Based Violence Case Information Management System (GBVCIMS) Tool is a study for NSCC, towards the development of the agency’s implementation capacity for its role out of the anti-elder abuse community based rapid response mechanism.
“Our participation today opens a pathway and we look forward to structuring sustainable partnerships for information sharing especially in the aspect of abuse and violence against older women. The intersection of ageing, gender and disability elevates the incidence of vulnerability and abuse”, the Director General added.
