Over one thousand rape and gender-based violence (GBV) cases have been recorded in Niger State from January to July 2025.
Director of Planning and Gender-Based Focal Person, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Niger State, Mrs. Mary Isa, who gave the hint in Minna, stated that rape and gender-based violence is a great menace and her ministry is not comfortable with it, saying that the whole incidence keeps occurring on a daily and hourly basis.
“From January to July 2025 alone, we have recorded over one thousand cases from different NGOs, and as I am talking to you, we have a central body we call dashboard, where all these cases were supposed to be reported and uploaded to the National Dashboard,” she said.
Mary lamented that the ministry received a report of a father that raped his nine-year-old daughter, adding that the act has demoralized the children seriously, stating that it took the ministry time before the little girl opened up, promising that the father will definitely be punished according to the law.
“We also received a report of siblings sleeping with one another, fathers raping their own daughters—really, it has gone so bad,” Mary frowned.
According to her, “We have been carrying out sensitization in markets, mechanic workshops, Emirate Councils, and schools. We also have anti-GBV \[clubs] in schools so that the students can report to their teachers—although, some of the violators are teachers, and some are counsellors.”
She revealed that only a few culprits have been arrested but, however, regretted that the ministry is facing challenges with some parents who prefer to settle the rape cases at the family level.
“Our service providers are on ground across the state; the victims can report any form of abuse, be it physical, sexual, emotional, or any form of gender-based violence.”
She further disclosed that the ministry is collaborating with security agencies and other stakeholders that are service providers so that anywhere they see and identify the culprits, they can be arrested and handed over to law enforcement agencies.
Mary Isa warned that perpetrators of this evil act will definitely face the wrath of the law.
