The European Union and United Nations Joint Spotlight Initiative, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, are planning a national data situation room on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) towards ending the menace in the country.

Today, the joint EU-UN Spotlight Initiative will, at the premises of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, launch the national data situation room and data dashboard, as an innovative data visualisation platform to enable decision-makers and programme managers to analyse and monitor gender-based violence statistics in real-time.

UNDP explained that the novel intervention, which is for the Nigerian government, is also the first of its kind in the country.

According to the organisers, “the National GBV Data Situation Room will act as a hub for GBV data in Nigeria, in response to widespread incidents of violence against women and girls (VAWG) and to strengthen coordination and harmonisation of data on sexual and GBV programming in the country.”

President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to attend the event alongside Ministers of Women Affairs (Dame Pauline Tallen), Justice (Abubakar Malami), Budget and Planning (Prince Clem Agba); Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed and EU Head of delegation, Ambassador Ketil Karlsen.

Other dignitaries expected at the event, which would be streamed live on the youtube channel, are the UN Resident Coordinator, Mr. Edward Kallon; UNDP Resident Representative, Mr. Mohamed Yahya; Executive Secretary of National Human Rights Commission, Mr. Tony Ojukwu and representatives of the Civil Society Reference Group.

UN Women noted that although some good progress was made in the last few months to end violence against women and girls, the increase in the menace due to COVID-19 shows that, in terms of quality data, a lot remains to be done to achieve the overall vision of a Nigeria free from GBV. 

“The launch of the national GBV data situation room aims to address these gaps in quality data to enable appropriate access to timely collation, validation, analysis, and dissemination, and to support policy and decision making to end GBV in Nigeria,” the statement added.

While the Spotlight Initiative is being implemented in six states, including Adamawa, Cross River, Ebonyi, Lagos, Sokoto, and the FCT, UNDP says it is working with partners to strengthen institutions, policies, and data availability to end violence against women and girls.