Addressing surging gendered violence in locked-down Nigeria

Lagos, Nigeria — A mere week into lockdown, Ada Okoli’s husband lost his job in a wave of layoffs due to the pandemic. A week later — just two weeks into lockdown — Okoli said, the beatings began again. “He was always in a foul mood,” she said.

Efforts to pacify him, by giving him the meager sum she earns selling food from a roadside canteen, were ineffective. “Before the lockdown, I would go and stay with my sister,” said Okoli. But due to restriction-of-movement orders, that was no longer a viable option. “The children and I are stuck with him now.”

The first case of COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa was confirmed in Nigeria on February 27, 2020. About a month later, 131 cases and two deaths were recorded.

On March 29, Muhammadu Buhari announced a 14-day lockdown in the nation’s commercial capital, Lagos, and in Federal Capital Territory Abuja and Ogun states, all of which have been greatly impacted to the virus, in order to curtail its spread and prevent the loss of life. As of July 14, the cases stand at 33,616, with 754 deaths.

“It is a matter of life and death,” said Buhari in a televised address. “The repercussions of any premature end to the lockdown action are unimaginable.”

But while lockdowns globally have proven a laudable measure in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts to stymie the virus’ impact have also put vulnerable groups, such as women and children, at risk.

Lagos, Nigeria’s epicenter of the pandemic, has recorded an increase in domestic and sexual violence cases against women by more than 50 percent, according to the Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT), the government body responsible for cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in Lagos State.

“Since the lockdown started, DSVRT has seen an increase in people calling our hotline,” said Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, a DSVRT coordinator. “We receive an average of 13 calls per day during the lockdown, compared to eight calls daily before lockdown.”

It’s an extraordinary increase, especially given how difficult it is for victims to make calls when trapped at home with their abuses.

“Whenever I want to make a call, I always sneak into the bathroom,” said Naomi* from Ogun State, who has experienced violence under lockdown. “Then, I turn on the shower so that my husband will not hear what I am saying over the phone.”

Dorothy Njemanze, a sexual rights advocate and founder of Dorothy Njemanze Foundation, also confirmed with Women Under Siege over the phone that calls her foundation has received reporting instances of domestic violence have increased from six calls per week before the lockdown to 28 per week during the lockdown.

“The major mental health issues for victims are mood swings, depression, and struggling to stay positive for their children,” said Angel Yinkore, team lead for the mental health and psychosocial services department at the Stand to End Rape Initiative (STER), a nonprofit providing prevention mechanisms and supporting survivors with psychosocial services.

At least 15 million more cases of intimate-partner violence (for an average lockdown of six months) are predicted around the world as a result of pandemic restrictions, according to a report published by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), Avenir Health, Johns Hopkins University in the U.S., and Victoria University in Australia. The report also estimates a 20-percent increase in violence during an average three-month lockdown in all 193 UN member states.

In June, Women Affairs Minister Pauline Tallen told the public that the number of abuse cases against women and children had tripled as victims were trapped at home, which Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu attributed to COVID-19 restrictions. “We have a surge in cases of rape and gender-based violence,” he said, reporting a recorded 717 rape incidents across the country in the first five months of 2020. The cases have sparked national outcry, prompting 36 governors to declare a state of emergency and officials to renew commitments toward tackling the issue.

Data on the number of cases of gender-based violence reported in Nigeria is otherwise scarce, not least of all because victims, mostly women and girls, are deterred from coming forward due to stigma. A 2019 World Bank report on gender-based violence (GBV) in the country revealed that Nigeria has one of the lowest rates of help-seeking behavior, at 32 percent. The cultural belief that a woman is partially responsible for being victimized — under the assumption that she must have transgressed from her social role and therefore deserves punishment — is common. There also exists the fear of family disgrace if the issue is not addressed privately. These attitudes reinforce the impunity and acceptance of GBV among survivors, their families, and their neighbors, who often seek to cover up incidents.

State governments have adopted different legislative and policy instruments, including The Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act of 2015, which prohibits all forms of violence — including sexual and gender-based violence — against persons in both private and public life.

DSVRT, created under the Lagos state government to provide sensitive services to victims of domestic and sexual violence, has had to rely on creative alternatives, such as tele-interventions, to support victims under lockdown.

“We are employing conference calling to speak with couples together especially where both parties are willing to resolve their issues. There is also the option of temporary shelter provided by our partner nonprofits,” said Vivour Adeniyi, also a DSVRT coordinator.

Thus far, there has been no report of violence stemming from the conference calls. In fact, in some instances, the format has succeeded in resolving disputes among some couples, hopefully preventing cases from escalating.

Still, Nigeria’s government does not seem to prioritize addressing the rise in domestic and sexual violence cases in light of the COVID-19 outbreak; it has yet to announce an official response to this aspect of the current crisis. A number of women’s rights activists have also questioned the exclusion of women, especially Minister Tallen, from membership in the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, established by Buhari to coordinate and oversee Nigeria’s multi-sectoral efforts to contain the spread and mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

Nonprofits have been largely saddled with the responsibility of managing the observable spike in this violence with little or no support from the government to effectively assist victims. While their efforts have proven to be productive, it is still not enough compared to the magnitude of work that needs to be done. “It seems the bulk of the work has been left to [civil society organizations],” said Ayodeji Osowobi, STER’s founder. “We receive increasing cases daily, and sometimes, we are so incapacitated that we can’t do anything about it.”

President Buhari announced a “phased and gradual” easing of lockdown in effect beginning May 4. The easing of restrictions was split into two-week phases, alongside an overnight curfew, mandatory face masks in public, and a ban on non-essential interstate travel. The extension of the second phase by another 4 weeks was announced by the president to kick off from June 30 to midnight on July 27.

Given that the needs — and safety — of women and girls are painfully negligible under lockdown, we can only expect increased risk of exploitation and abuse if the government doesn’t provide tailored assistance.

After the lockdown was eased, Naomi decided to move out of her home to live with her sister, she said, “I don’t think I could’ve continued with the emotional and psychological trauma.”

Meanwhile, Okoli said that her husband has since secured a job, one that keeps him out of the home most of the time, for which she is grateful.

* Naomi’s name was changed for her safety.