COMBATING Gender-based Violence (GBV) and placing it at the core of development agenda will help Nigeria meet the growth challenges of the 21st century, Dr Seinye Lulu-Briggs, has said.

Citing a World Bank report that countries can only address the challenges with the full and equal participation of all male and female citizens, the philanthropist said reducing GBV has to become a priority if Nigeria wants to meet her targets.

Lulu-Briggs was the guest speaker at the African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA), Rivers State branch event commemorating the 2023 Pan-African Women’s Day and 16 Days of Activism to end GBV, in Port Harcourt, yesterday.

At the event themed ‘African Women in the 21st Century: Challenges and Prospects’, where her NGO, the O.B. Lulu-Briggs Foundation, received a Distinction Award for protecting the rights of women and children, as well as selfless service to humanity, Dr Lulu-Briggs reiterated empowering and liberating women as essential for unlocking Nigeria and Africa’s immense potential.

She said, “GBV is among African women’s most vexing challenges in the 21st century. During the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of GBV increased across the world. In Africa, the pandemic eroded women’s hard-won accumulation of human capital, voice, agency and economic empowerment built by international development concerted efforts over the past three decades.”

Most African countries’ ratification of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), the African Union’s Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, she lamented, have not translated into widespread improvement in the lives of African women.

“African women face challenges accessing land, credit, education and healthcare. GBV remains alarmingly prevalent, with significant economic costs,” she said.

Lulu-Briggs encouraged everyone to lend their support to ending GBV by participating in the 16 Days of Activism to End GBV, which is a global campaign that begins on November 25, 2023, and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and concludes on December 10, World Human Rights Day.