The Mothers And Marginalised Advocacy Centre (MAMA Centre) has expressed its commitment to end violence against women in Nigeria, noting that it remains a major barrier to achieving equality, inclusive development, and peace, as well as upholding the human rights of women and girls in the country.

Executive Director of the Centre, Chioma Kanu, stated this on the heels of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women 2023, with the theme, “UNITE! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls”.

She said: “We, on this day, join local and international partners to emphasise the need for funding prevention strategies to proactively stop gender-based violence in Nigeria.

“While gender-based violence can affect any individual, irrespective of sex, age and ethnicity, we must stress that certain groups of women and girls are particularly vulnerable to violence.”

She stressed the need for taking the campaign to the informal sectors, lamenting that women and girls from this sectors are suffering from absence of policy intervention, which is impacting negatively on the society.

“As a result, we demand targeted policy focus on judicious utilisation of locally-allocated resources in mitigating the major drivers of gender-based violence, especially in the informal private sector, such as markets and motor parks where sexual assault, abuse and rape among women and adolescent girls are not uncommon but under-reported.

“Despite the physical and psycho-emotional torture suffered from sexual violence in the market, motor parks and others by women and adolescent girls, its socio-economic impact and development implication remain unattended by the government at all levels.

“We are worried by the absence of policy intervention or preventive engagement in the informal sector, as an unchecked sphere of the society where violence against women and girls is normalised, condoned and unsanctioned on a daily basis.

“Through various engagements at all levels, we observed the socio-economic gaps coupled with inadequate demand for accountability on budgetary allocation to livelihood projects that largely impact women empowerment, financial capacity and self-reliance, which have the potential to decrease their susceptibility to violence at all levels,” she added.