CITAD Raises Alarm Over Increase In Gender-Based Violence In Kano

A non-governmental organization, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) have raised the alarm over the increase in gender based violence (GBV) in the state in comparison with the data obtained in previous months.

Speaking in Kano on Wednesday during the monthly press conference, the CITAD gender program officer, Zainab Aminu noted that available reports showed an increase in GBV.

“35 cases were reported via the GBV App for the month which includes Rape, Sexual Harassment, Online Harassment, Sexual Abuse, Wife Battering and school violence.”

Zainab Aminu, who was represented by Fatima Baba – Kura called Kano State House of Assembly to adopt the Violence against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) in the state.

The VAPP Act, which clearly outlines laws to tackle violence against women and girls in Nigeria, has still not been implemented in some States, seven years after its enactment. Most citizens remain unaware of its laws and implications.

According to her, GBV cases kept growing and perpetrators went unpunished despite recent interventions by several government institutions and civil society groups in the state.

She urged government to create more support centres where concerned individuals and victims of GBV can report their cases and seek help, saying that the measure would increase access to live-saving services for the victims.

Zainab also called on the security agencies to handle GBV cases professionally without shaming the victims while parents should desist from preventing their abused children from speaking up under the guise of shame.

She also advised that keeping silent will not protect the victims who suffer. It encourages the perpetrators to take this silence as a stamp of acceptability.