Between January 2021 and July of this year, 175 rape cases were reported in Niger State.
Hajiya Kaltum Dauda Rufai, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Women Affairs and Secretary of the Gender Based Violence Management Committee in the state, made this known on Tuesday at a one-day anti-gender based violence close out workshop organized with the support of the Nigeria Academy of Letters in Minna.
She stated that only eight convictions had been recorded out of 77 prosecutions, with 60 cases still pending.
Rufai went on to say that during that time, 65 cases of husband and wife abuse, 67 cases of street hawking, 21 cases of forced marriage, and 3, 500 cases of child withdrawal had been documented.
She said that one of the committee’s accomplishments was the dethronement of a traditional monarch by the emir of Minna for forcible marriage in his area.
The permanent secretary stated that poverty has also exposed many out-of-school children in the state to molestations and other types of abuse, urging stakeholders, especially traditional and religious leaders, to continue to promote sensitization against Gender Based Violence (GBV).
Mrs Anne C. Nwakpudav of Rayuwa Sexual Assault Referral Centre also spoke, stating that the state had 37 GBV cases in January alone this year.
Dr Amina Abubakar Bello, wife of Niger State governor and head of the Anti-Gender Based Assault Management Committee, stated that three out of every ten women in Nigeria had suffered physical violence by the age of 15.
She lobbied for the passage of anti-GBV legislation, stating that referral centers will be established in all 22 general hospitals in the state to address the issue of rape and other abuses.
