Di EU Support to End Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (ESGBV) Programme for Nigeria don back di use of Nigeria’s first standardized justice-sector Violence Against Women (VAW) Reporting Platform.

Na di Federal Ministry of Justice develop am, to strengthen accountability, track cases and make sure pipo get better access to justice.

Dis one dem announce on Monday for Abuja, during di Deployment and Operationalisation of di Violence Against Women Reporting Platform and di National Validation and Capacity-Building Workshop on di VAW Reporting System.

Di training na di ESGBV Programme for Nigeria organize, wey International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) dey run, alongside di Federal Ministry of Justice.

Wey dey speak for di event, Ms Melissa Omene, wey be GBV Policy and Strategy Development Specialist for ESGBV Programme, International IDEA, talk say dis initiative dey address one big problem wey dey worry Nigeria’s response to violence against women: data wey scatter-scatter and poor tracking of cases afta dem report dem.

“To report violence na only di beginning of di survivor’s journey. Wetin happen afta report matter just as di report itself,” Omene talk.

She say one assessment wey involve 112 respondents from 32 institutions for FCT, Benue, Kaduna and Oyo states show gaps for data coordination, investigations, evidence management and justice-sector monitoring.

Omene also talk say di National GBV Dashboard record 4,449 GBV cases for di first half of 2023, wey bring di total for di whole country to more than 19,000 since dem launch di platform for 2020.

For her own side, Mrs Yewande Gbola-Awopetu, wey be Head of di SGBV Unit for Federal Ministry of Justice, talk say di success of dis new reporting system go depend well-well on di quality of information wey desk officers go provide.

“Evry field wey you fill, evry case status wey you update, and evry follow-up wey you log go become part of di evidence wey dem go use,” Gbola-Awopetu talk.

She reveal say di National Human Rights Commission record more than 33,000 SGBV cases from January to May, while NAPTIP document over 3,000 cases of violence against women for FCT alone, wey show say we need stronger case documentation and tracking.

For im own side, Mr Agharinma Ehiedu, National Consultant for VAW Reporting System, International IDEA, talk say di platform go bring all di state-level information wey dey scatter-scatter come one single database, so justice institutions fit access national data without needing to contact individual states.

“You fit know how many offenders dey, how many cases dem don convict, and those wey still dey wait trial across di country,” Ehiedu talk.

He add say di platform go also allow members of di public to report violations, and di cases go go straight to di relevant state desk officers. He describe di system as one wey go give “full visibility of wetin dey happen” to VAW cases across Nigeria.