A survey across thirty-five states in Nigeria by Invictus Africa, a civic tech driven organisation, has shown that ten years after the passage of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act, (VAPPA), more than half of Nigerians are unaware of its existence or the provisions of the law.
Executive Director of the body, Bukky Shonibare, stated this while presenting the one-year survey to the media, yesterday in Abuja.She said Invictus Africa conducted a national survey using a mixed sample population of Nigerians 11, 574 Nigerians from diverse socio-economic backgrounds in 35 states (excluding Kano) and the Federal Capital Territory (FC), as well as government officials and NGOs.
“Only 49.3 per cent of the surveyed population had ever heard of the VAPP Law; among which only 29 per cent reported having a good understanding of its provisions. 50.7 per cent Nigerians have never heard of the VAPP Law.
“Educational attainment strongly influences awareness levels. Individuals with no formal education (23.8 per cent) or those with only primary education (23.9 per cent) were far less likely to have heard of the VAPP Law than those with tertiary education (55.4 per cent of graduates and 60.6 per cent of postgraduates), she said.
Shonibare pointed that geographic and occupational disparities are stark as “Only 42.9 per cent of rural residents are aware of the law, compared to 54.0 per cent of those living in urban areas.”
The report also contains that NGOs and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), workers are 75.2 per cent aware, civil servants ranked highest in awareness with 59.7 per cent while the lowest awareness rates were found among the self-employed, students and unemployed individuals with 40.6, 46.3 and 36.9 per cent respectively.
Four thematic areas were highlighted as drivers of the report and they include public awareness, enforcement systems, support services, and coordination mechanisms. She listed Kwara, Rivers and Delta states as the least among states that are ‘poorly performing’, in terms of implementation of the Act.
The body stressed the urgent need to close the gap between what the law says and the lived experience of Nigerian despite the decade long passage of the VAPPA on May 25 2015.
She pointed that “In terms of enforcement, the survey reveals both progress and persistent weaknesses, of the 35 states and the FCT assessed, 23 have established sex offenders’ registers, yet only 18 have integrated these into broader GBV tracking systems.
“This limits the registers’ utility for preventing repeat offences or informing policy decisions Courts in 32 states have provisions on issuing Protection orders, but 19 could not provide data on their issuance.”
These gaps according to Invictus Africa, show serious gaps in monitoring and accountability.Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Binta Bello, said that the agency as a the implementor of the VAPPA in the (FCT), has so far been able to secure 36 convictions including two life sentences from the over 3, 000 gender base reports it has received in the nation’s capital.
Represented by the Acting Director, Violence Against Persons Department, Tolu Odugbesan, she said “Public awareness is a tool that needs to be tuned up to achieve the much needed implementation and impact of the VAPP Act.”
Speaking on the importance of data in the implementation of the VAPPA, Gender advisor and rights activist, Ene Ede, while commending Invictus Africa on the quality of the survey, said data is essential to know areas of improvement and where efforts need to be scaled up.
