We need more "Sexual Assault" advocates like Osinbajo

By Nkechi Okoye-Adewale

I have not had the opportunity to pour my heart out on the deafening silence on sexual assaults and gender based violence in recent times. In the last few days, we have had some events that have highlighted sexual violence in homes even among educated people.

For many, the case of Pius Anglo, the Channels TV reporter who beat his wife weeks after she had a baby is still fresh. But there many more cases like this, not everyone is willing to come out and speak on their domestic situation but sexual assaults are real.

During the week, I saw Vice President Yemi Osinbajo speaking at the virtual 6th Network Conference of Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCS), and I was really excited that someone so high up was paying attention.

VIDEO LINK

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffRfKHdAb64&feature=youtu.be

Surprisingly, the VP’s video (see YouTube video at the end) or speech did not make the headlines and I think this is due to cultural and traditional problems that we have to address. In the video, the VP said Nigeria has 29 referral sexual assault centres for survival of sexual assaults in 17 states. SARCS is funded by the DFID, EU, British Council, etc.

What comes to mind though is what are our own agencies and even the private sector doing about this? In the case of the Channels TV reporter, Governor Samuel Ortom settled their dispute but failed to resolve the lingering problem of sexual violence and this is what we do all the time, after a man beats his wife or girlfriend we beg her to remain in the relationship that the mistake will not repeat itself but more often than not, we see that it does repeat itself.

Really, I do not understand why we encourage women to remain in abusive relationships, why we make it look like it is a norm, why we think that everything will just return to normal. Well, I have news for you, the moment a man beats his wife something changes in that relationship. Whether he does it again or not the scar is there. This is why we should advocate for more sexual assault referral centres to help victims who cannot come to social media and tell it all.

That is why the role of people like Prof. Osinbajo cannot be overemphasized. We need both government and private sector to pay attention to sexual incidences. When a staff comes to work with a black eye, something needs to be done, even if the victim says no.

The reason why victims are afraid to speak is because they fear that they will be killed or their family hurt if they do. They are sometimes in a mental and psychological state of mind that makes it impossible for them to make the right decisions.

Here’s what the Vice President said, “The state of affairs today remain quite dire, the COVD-19 pandemic and the lockdown appears to have further exacerbated sexual and gender based violence cases, not just in Nigeria but across the world.

“There is evidence that pre-existing gender bias social norms combined with increased isolation and economic stress rendered vulnerable women and children even more vulnerable to abuse. In June 2020, the Inspector General of Police disclosed that the police have recorded about 717 rape incidents across the country between January and May 2020 and that 799 suspects have so far been arrested and that 631 cases have been conclusively investigated and charged to court while 52 cases are still under investigation.”

This shows that there is more work to be done and one man or even a handful of people cannot get this job done alone. We need to all identify that sexual assault and gender bias is a problem and only then we can tackle it head on.

Nkechi Okoye-Adewale is a sexual assault advocate with over 10 years experience working across Nigeria. She writes from Lokoja, Kogi State