The lack of adequate resources in terms of budgetary allocation has been named as one of the major reasons why Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) has persisted amidst all efforts to bring the menace to a stop in Nigeria. ENE OSHABA writes
Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) has been a lingering problem in Nigeria for many years now, and it’s further aggravated by the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country as citizens were restricted from movements and victims exposed 24 hours to perpetrators of violence.
According to reports, women and girls suffer more of SGBV, a situation which has been described as “a pandemic within a pandemic.”
Experts have also stated that incidence of GBV is growing astronomical with the activities of the insurgency in the North East. From forced and early marriages to the physical, mental or sexual assault on a woman, nearly 3 in 10 Nigerian women have experienced physical violence by age 15.
Gender-based violence is termed to be one of the most oppressive forms of gender inequality, posing a fundamental barrier to the equal participation of women and men in social, economic, and political spheres.
As noted in Voice and Agency: Empowering Women and Girls for Shared Prosperity, the World Bank’s Inter Agency Standing Committee defines GBV as “an umbrella term for any harmful act that is perpetrated against a person’s will and that is based on socially ascribed (gender) differences between males and females.”
It is to this end that as part of the United Nations Spotlight Initiative (UNSI) project activities, FIDA Abuja organised a one-day training for senior government officials and civil society organisations in the FCT on Gender Responsive Budgeting to enable funding for better implementation of issues around SGBV
The Training
Welcoming participants to the training, the chairperson of FIDA Abuja branch, Rachel Andrew-Adejoh, raised the alarm on the current situation of gender-based violence, saying it “is currently a surge that demands more strategic tackling.”
Andrew-Adejoh said FIDA is beaming a spotlight on SGBV in order to place the matter at the center of a collective drive for gender equality and women’s empowerment in line with the year 2030 sustainability development goals.
She said, “There is currently a surge in SGBV particularly during the pandemic as we saw high rise of violence against women, girls and children so this Initiative seeks to respond to violence against women and girls with particular focus on SGBV and other harmful practices.”
She noted that many causes of harmful practices especially on women and girls such as widowhood practices and female genital mutilation are still ongoing across the country, amidst heightened advocacies condemning the act.
“You will be shocked to know that widowhood practices and female genital mutilation is still on the increase and that is why we are seeking way on how these practices can be eliminated completely.”
She stated further that following the prevalence of SGBV in some states FIDA Nigeria is implementing the spotlight project in six states including Sokoto, Adamawa, Ebonyi, Cross River, Lagos state, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)
“Participants were trained on responsive budgeting and impact of poor funding on women while also analysing budget programmes from gender perspectives while adopting an advocacy plan to promote increased budget allocation on gender and to track compliance to gender responsive budgeting.”
“The training aims to enhance and further strengthen the knowledge of honourable ministers and senior government officials including CSOs on need to incorporate gender perspectives at various stages of budget planning, policy and program formulation, assessment of needs of target groups, allocation of resources and the implementation of impact of assessment as they affects women and girls who make up 50 per cent of the population.”
She also emphasised the need to build capacity and understand of gender responsive budgeting as a tool for promoting gender equality and accountability to women’s rights as well as efficiency and transparency in budget policies and processes.
“We are deeply committed to working with stakeholders to generate information, strengthen synergies, cross-collaboration in partnership with the ministers, parastatal, law enforcement agencies and CSOs. We also seek to demand accountability and demand a stop to all forms of violence against women and children in the FCT and Nationwide.”
Benefits
Andrew-Adejoh noted the presence of gender desks at various MDAs including the law enforcement agencies, but expressed concerns on the poor implementation of policies due to lack of budgeting.
According to her, there is the need for gender responsive budgeting, and that it is one thing to have a gender desk but another thing to know there is provisions for this in the budget.
“This is important so that when issues arise and we know there is budget we can demand accountability from those charged with the responsibility.
“There are lots of gender desks but there should also be units under them for effective implementation so we are looking at position where all MDAs will be actively involved because there are many stakeholders in this advocacy but we are taking a step further to ensure the right steps are taken because once a particular issue is not budgetted for you cannot do much.
“In essence there is cost implication would to attend to issues of SGBV for instance, when a woman suffers domestic violence there is need to take her to hospital to get treated, she needs to be attended to and all such require Money and agencies require funds to move around. Our ultimate goal is total elimination of all forms of SGBV including other harmful practices.”
Other strategies
Explaining further strategy to eliminating SGBV, the chairperson disclosed that last week FIDA Abuja branch trained indigenous paralegals who are not lawyers, but were equipped with knowledge on how to handle cases of SGBV.
She stated that this became pertinent as these paralegals are members of the community who holds leadership positions at various levels and so know the people in the community because they live in the same community.
“We drew participants from Jahi and Utako community in the FCT for this training because they know people in the community. When SGBV happen victims don’t know where to run to so you see their perpetrators walking freely but victims can report to the paralegals who are some form of leaders in the community, victims an report them and they in turn report to us or the police for proper investigation to be carried out.”
Participants
One of the ministers who participated in the training is the Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, she noted misconceptions about some issues relating to gender explaining that gender responsive budgeting does not refer to women alone but both sexes.
Tallen, who was represented by her special assistant, Princess Jumai Idonije, noted that such budgeting is very complex to execute, due to the misconceptions and misunderstanding of the term gender, stressing that it is not a call for a separate budget or women’s budget.
She said, “In some parts of the country girls are better educated than boys because most of their boys skip school to take up trade. Gender responsive budgeting will look to address issues as it affects both sexes so the budget must be more than an indicator for future direction and migration within society.
“Budget is most comprehensive statement of a government social economic plans and priorities. It should address every issue irrespective of gender by seeking to uplift the standard of living for vulnerable members of the society especially women and children, Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) and the elderly from the four areas of good governance which are equality, accountability, efficiency and transparency.”
She, therefore, called on financial institutions to set up women development funds to reduce the bureaucracy women experience when accessing funds especially with the effects of Covid-19 on women’s businesses.
Earlier, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema, represented at the event by Nonyelum, said the training was apt as it was being organised when the elimination of GBV is gaining international recognition, urging FIDA to ensure that victims of SGBV gets justice to enable total elimination of the menace from the society.
He said, “There is the need for all hands to be on deck if the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) must be achieved in Nigeria and one of such ways is by ensuring a gender responsive budgeting.
“Gender-based violence is underreported due to silence, stigma and shame, I encourage FIDA to continue to sensitize communities on the effects of harmful practices and we must all join hands to work towards total elimination of GBV and ensure that victims get justice to deter other perpetrators.”
Other participants
Also speaking, a participant, Joseph Izibili, who represented the National Orientation Agency (NOA), stressed the need for gender equality and equity from budget perspectives, affirming that the training has opened his eyes to understanding the concept of gender.
“I have learnt that gender is all inclusive and not exclusively women issues, I now see it differently from my understanding in the past. The training relating to gender responsiveness in budgeting is impactful. When it comes to programmes budgeting and planning it is important to ensure equity and inclusiveness to enable national development,” said Edo Ekata, a senior development officer at the Gender Affairs Department of the Ministry of Women Affairs.
Ekata said further that the concept of gender, saying responsive budgeting calls for every project as it affects gender to be considered in implementation process of every ministry.
Meanwhile, the director-general of NAPTIP, represented by an Assistant Chief Intelligent Officer of its SGBV unit described the training as apt and very educative, adding that SGBV is alarming and can only be well addressed with adequate budgeting.
Also, a member of the Federation of Muslim Women and Convener Women Leadership Forum, Dr. Asmau Adamu, also harped on the need for appropriate budgeting saying this will cater to all components in the society.
She stressed that all gender issues needs to be taken care of just as she regretted that women still face discrimination and don’t get to occupy strategic positions due to existence of patriarchy.
“Patriarchy is still very much operational right from our homes to the society that is why we are still battling equal opportunities which makes it difficult for women to occupy strategic positions. Smaller countries are achieving gender equality, but Nigeria has to do more on achieving gender equality and responsiveness and this is making us lag behind.”
