Rakiya A.Muhammad
Until recently, Hadiza, 25, was unaware that domestic abuse, a form of Sexual and Gender-based Violence, SGBV, is a criminal violation punishable by law.
The mother of three children who lives in a remote village in Bauchi State, northeastern Nigeria, says many of them had been suffering in silence because of their lack of knowledge of available services and support systems.
“Many women, including myself, have long faced such abuses,” Hadiza divulges. “We felt helpless until our community had an awareness campaign.”
SGBV remains a significant cause for concern across the globe. The United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and women’s empowerment, UN Women, notes one in three women experience physical or sexual violence, mostly by an intimate partner.
“Violence against women and girls is one of the world’s most prevalent human rights violations taking place, many times over, in every corner of the globe,” it points out.
“The immediate and long-term physical, sexual and mental consequences for women and girls can be devastating, including death.”
It has been traumatic for SGBV survivors, such as Hadiza, who have had to endure harrowing experiences amid a culture of silence.
SARC To the Rescue
The Bauchi State Action Committee on the Fight Against Gender-Based Violence, chaired by the Governor’s wife, Hajiya Aisha Bala Muhammad, debuted on July 18, 2020, to safeguard women and girls from gender-based violence and curb the occurrence of such acts.
For many survivors who received treatment at the Sexual Assault Referral Centre established at the Bauchi Specialty Hospital one and a half years ago, it’s a new lease on life.
“We have a record of 262 cases of gender-based violence at the SARC centre in the past 15 months,” discloses Talatu Musa, the committee’s secretary.
“The centre provides SGBV survivors with free and confidential medical care. Also, we have a shelter that offers survivors temporary accommodation and psychosocial support.”
Minors make up 80% of survivors.
However, the rate of defilement of children is a severe worry in the state, as a majority of the SGBV cases documented at the centre are minors.
The committee’s record shows that 80 per cent of survivors, particularly rape, are children under the age of 12.
“We discovered that many of them were out of school, and in such cases, we reintegrated them into the educational system. We financially support their education, provide them with necessary school supplies, including uniforms, and assist them with the small amount of money they earn while attending school.”
One beneficiary is a 12-year-old JSS student who was defiled in a remote village by 12 men varying in age from 20 to 70 while her mother was away for two weeks.
The preteen who experienced urinary incontinence following the incident has since received medical intervention and returned to school while the culprits face the law.
The committee also economically strengthens families by giving caregivers and survivors income-generating equipment such as sewing machines, grinders, and cash to launch small enterprises.
Since its inception in 2020, the scribe reveals, the State Action Committee has assisted 300 survivors of sexual assault, deprivation, child abuse, domestic violence and related offences.
However, the drive to raise awareness has been crucial to tackling SGBV in Bauchi, with stakeholders relying heavily on the sensitisation campaign.
Hadiza’s village is one community in nine local government areas in Bauchi state that the committee has so far visited with the message of ending gender-based violence.
Hadiza and many other rural dwellers are now well-informed about the warning signals, actions, and channels for reporting information.
“We can now identify and confront harmful behaviours, and I feel encouraged and heard,” says an enlivened Hadiza.
More people seeking human rights services
Bauchi Coordinator of the National Human Rights Commission, Yatchi Dala, notes that with advocacy and sensitisation, more people are seeking services of the commission, which took off in the state on February 1, 2019.
“The commission handles SGBV cases; by our mandate, we are the national institution tasked with promoting and protecting the human rights of Nigerians,” she states.
“When we came to Bauchi, we realised that many people were not aware of human rights then, so we took up advocacy and sensitisation, which has led many people to know about the commission and seek its services.”
As of December 31, 2019, the commission had approximately 75 cases, most of which were on civil and political rights, including illegal detention and arrests.
The NHRC Coordinator, however, recalls that in 2020, during the pandemic, there was a sharp increase in sexual and gender-based violence, particularly rape, which prompted stakeholders to step up action against it as more individuals came forward to voice their concerns.
“In 2021, we observed at the commission that gender-based violence remained the most prevalent issue. However, this time, domestic violence became the primary concern,” Dala discloses.
“As a result of the awareness campaigns conducted in 2020, people became aware that they could report instances of domestic violence, such as when a spouse physically abuses them. Consequently, there was an increase in the reporting of domestic violence, abandonment of parental responsibility, and economic violence.”
‘I didn’t know spouse beating is a criminal offence.’
One perpetrator, who admitted to beating his wife, claims he had no idea that he was engaging in any illegal behaviour until authorities confronted him.
“I was surprised to learn that beating my spouse is a criminal offence,” he claims. “Now I know better. I am much more enlightened.”
Malam Ali Yakubu, a father of six girls, is one of many individuals impressed with the intensified campaign against SGBV. They acknowledge that many of their community members are now cognisant of the different manifestations of this despicable act and understand that they are subject to punishment, thus serving as a deterrent.
Chief Magistrate Amina Garba Ahmed with the Bauchi State Judiciary speaks to the state’s new laws that deal with SGBV cases.
“We have the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, which makes a procedural law on handling some cases, and the Violence Against Persons’ Prohibition, VAPP Law, which addresses different types of gender-based violence. We also have some of it regulated under the Penal Code of Bauchi state,” she highlights.
“There is a serious response to incidents of SGBV, and instruments have been put in place to handle them, spanning from the executive to the judiciary and even security.”
New laws and special courts enhancing GBV response
She identifies the passage of the VAPP law in Bauchi state, the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, and a revision of the Penal Code in December 2022 as their crowning achievements.
“So, before that time, we used the Criminal Procedure Code. That law was pre-colonial, but it was the one guiding our procedure; everything we were saying about the survivor-centric approach, putting the survivor’s interest at the centre, protecting them, stigma and everything, was not there,” she elucidates.
Amina, an active member of the State Action Committee on Fight Against SGBV and the founding president of the Ikrah Foundation, an NGO dedicated to promoting women’s and girls’ rights, believes the laws have been pivotal because of increased awareness and reportage.
“People now know that there is an instrument protecting them, and we have been doing a lot of awareness on stigmatisation and breaking the culture of silence,” she stresses.
“We have the SGBV response and referral network at the grassroots level in each of the 20 local government areas. Consequently, we monitor cases at every level, from local governments to the state level, where we have the SARC.”
She adds that before December 2022, the law enforcement was less stringent.
“However, since February of this year, there has been a heightened focus on cases of sexual and gender-based violence. This is evident in the establishment of specialised courts by the judiciary to handle such cases,” explains the adjudicator.
“We have three such courts at the magistrate level and one at the High court. There are plans to increase the number in the high court.”
Thanks to the bottom-up approach to raising awareness, each local government now has a system in place to deal with gender-based violence (GBV), which means they can respond, take action to prevent the menace, and use referral networks. As a result, she says, more people report cases to the appropriate authorities.
“If you compare the ratio of reports from before December 2022 to after, you will assume that the number of incidents is rising. However, the truth is that many are now coming forward to report anything—even if it’s just a suspicion,” the Chief Magistrate expounds.
“And cases come to court now more because police usually refuse to terminate the case at the level of the police; they will say let them go to court, let the court determine otherwise they will be said to have taken something.”
Several SGBV cases have been documented by the Ministry of Justice in Bauchi state, according to Barrister Sha’awanatu Yusuf, Director of Public Prosecution. She confirms they have obtained convictions in some cases while others are pending in different courts throughout the state.
“We have received 11 favourable judgments this year (2023). The most recent one concerns two suspects who received a 35-year prison sentence in connection with a seven-year-old child in Jama’are,” she states. “The case was from 2021, but the court delivered the verdict on December 11, 2023.”
The Director discloses: “We have recorded 58 cases since January of this year. Compared to last year (2022), we have handled fewer cases because the Chief Judge has assigned four courts and given them the authority to try SGBV cases.”
Previously, the ministry was the only entity responsible for prosecuting cases; however, to expedite the process of justice and make it more accessible, special courts have been designated.
She hails the special courts as a significant accomplishment, with most cases concluded within three to four months.
“Society is seeing the result. It has opened the eyes of the public to the seriousness of putting an end to the SGBV issue,” the DPP asserts.
“Once an individual is accused, and we have presented our witnesses, the court can readily convict the wrongdoer, leading to visible outcomes which encourages society to step forward and report similar cases, even prompting the perpetrators to acknowledge the law’s presence.”
Gender-responsive policing
As part of efforts to strengthen police response to gender-based violence, the Bauchi State Police Command opened a gender desk in every division to tackle it.
Between January 2023 and December 2023, the Command recorded 73 cases of rape and indecent assault, with 86 suspects arrested in connection with the cases.
Shedding light on one of the cases, Commissioner of Police CP Auwal Musa Muhammad reveals the Command succeeded in convicting a case of rape, where one Yusuf Bako defiled a minor girl in a mosque within the Bauchi metropolitan. He was profiled and charged to court, which sentenced him to life imprisonment on November 27, 2023.
The Police Commissioner reiterates their commitment to the fight against SGBV while enhancing its collaborative efforts with other key stakeholders in the state to tackle all forms of crime.
Spotting the Snags
However, despite concerted efforts to combat sexual and gender-based violence, there are some snags.
“A culture of silence still challenges us. Some people still hesitate to voice out; they prefer to keep quiet,” bemoans Bauchi State Action Committee on the Fight Against SGBV Secretary Talatu Musa.
“Another challenge arises from the survivors’ relatives. After the Police are already in the process of prosecution, some family members of survivors sometimes claim they have settled at home and want to withdraw the case.”
Corroborating, the Human Rights Commission Coordinator notes families and communities exert considerable pressure to quit such cases.
She also notes that many continue to be reticent. “Some will say their daughters would not get husbands, and people will stigmatise them.”
Chief Magistrate Amina, for her part, identifies inadequate resources as the most significant obstacle.
“If we have more resources, we will have more capacity building, and we will have courts that are survivor-friendly,” she remarks.
“The special courts, for example, need screens because not everyone will want to come out.”
She elucidates, “I am a magistrate, but if I am going to a jurisdiction that is not mine, I will still feel uncomfortable. What about those who are traumatised and have no legal knowledge?”
The judge also highlights:” The law provides for even taking remote evidence, which means we need videos and internet so that if the person doesn’t want to come, you can still take the testimony and cross-examine them from wherever they are.”
She believes this will lead to better case prosecutions and more survivors receiving justice.
The jurist emphasises the need for a consolidated survivors’ fund.
“This fund should have a clear application process overseen by social welfare departments in local governments,” she points out.
“It should also be available to registered and accredited civil society organisations that provide services and responses to gender-based violence.”
Stepping up Sensitisation
However, concerning addressing some challenges, such as stigma and case withdrawal, the State Action Committee is working to tackle them through awareness programmes.
“We are stepping up our sensitisation efforts. As I previously mentioned, we have visited nine local government districts,” the committee scribe affirms.
“In January, we will continue until we visit all the 20 local government areas.”
Annie Lawal, the Program Director of BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights, underscores the imperative to enhance efforts towards ending SGBV.
“We have been in Bauchi since 2021, and the initial part of the programme, which roundup last year, focused on enhancing the capabilities of other Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Community-Based Organisations (CBOs),” she reveals, adding that it involved assessing their achievements and drawing lessons from their experiences.
“We recognised the need for synergy when we returned in 2023; therefore, we engaged state actors such as the police, justice ministry, education ministry, SARC centre representatives, women’s affairs ministry, religious and community leaders, and representatives of the SARC centre.”
In fighting sexual and gender-based violence, she continues, no one can do it alone.
“We prioritise collaborative efforts and implement a systematic approach with sensitisation sessions conducted at the local government level to address gender-based violence,” the BAOBAB staff states.
“As a result, individuals are now aware of the appropriate channels to seek information and assistance, including the availability of hotlines.”
The program director lauds the initiatives of Bauchi’s first lady towards combating SGBV. “The First Lady has done a lot, including working with CSOs; she has made significant contributions in this regard.”
However, she identifies the need for stakeholders to do more to end the menace.
The director adds that Baobab is carrying on its advocacy and awareness initiatives in Bauchi.
“We had a radio programme in Bauchi state, and that program is essential as we cannot get everywhere. We are considering continuing the drama series. We had a phone-in programme, and people requested its continuation.”
Bolstering advocacy with BAOBAB Media fellowship
BAOBAB, which commenced its inaugural media fellowship in SGBV Reporting in December 2023, says it is supporting journalists to deepen advocacy to end the menace.
“Baobab has consistently recognised the importance of partnering with the media; we know that the media reflects what happens in our society,” asserts the program director.
“We know there is always a need to build the capacity of the media to understand the issues and report from a fairer and gender-inclusive perspective, which improves the world outlook and the kind of result we get in society.”
For Mallam Ahmad, whose daughter is an SGBV survivor, he emphasises sustained due diligence by law enforcement to boost public confidence and trust.
Hadiza and other survivors applaud the multisectoral initiatives to deal with the problem while calling on stakeholders not to rest on their oars to rescue other women and girls from violence.
“Ensuring perpetrators face the full wrath of the law and a stronger awareness campaign against SGBV will serve as a deterrent,” Hadiza posits.
“It is vital to persist in disseminating the message to put an end to violence against women and girls.”
This story is supported by BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights, under the 2023 SGBV Media Fellowship Project