Nigeria Recorded 3’600 cases of Rape during lock down -UN.

In sequel to the violence in Nigeria, The United Nations on Tuesday has given an estimation of   3,600 Rape cases nation wide during the lockdown occasioned by the  COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the United nations as well stated that it was established to continuing the cooperation with the Ministry of Women Affairs to strengthen the availability of data on violence against women and girls.

Amina Mohammed, the Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, unveiled this during the verge of the Violence Against Women and Girls Situation Room – Spotlight Initiative.

Whereas,the programme which was jointly organised by the European Union, and the UN and Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development allows decision-makers and programme managers to analyse and view GBV data in real-time.

In a statement by Amina Mohammed ,the joint EU-UN Spotlight Initiative  aims to create a Nigeria where all women and girls, particularly those most vulnerable, live a life free from violence and harmful practices.

Where the need for this initiative has perhaps never been as evident as amid the COVID – 19 pandemic, which has affected the whole world including Nigeria.

Following this report, Honourable Minister of Women Affairs, has lamented that the number of rapes has increased by three times compared to the previous level. During the lockdown, each state in Nigeria has reported over 100 rape cases, equalling over 3,600 rape cases nationwide.

However, this points to a shadow pandemic of violence against women and girls on top of the Coronavirus pandemic, and calls for all actors to come together and take urgent action to protect the rights of women and girls.

“One of the key priorities of the Spotlight Initiative is to enhance data availability and capacities. There has previously been paucity of data related to Violence Against Women and Girls, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Harmful Practices and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.

“The main existing data sources are fragmented with poor coordination of the data collection process, often lack disaggregated data for vulnerable groups and disaggregation beyond state level, have small samples and are not widely disseminated.

“The National Violence Against Women and Girls Situation Room is an innovative data management and visualization platform which uses technology to enable government, decision-makers and program managers view and analyse data with ease.

Therefore, proper measures should be taking by the decision makers to put an end to such disgraceful bottle neck.

By:mustymustapha