A civil society organisation, YouthHub Africa, has urged men to speak about their experiences on sexual and gender-based violence, because of the low level of data available on abuses against men.
Executive Director of YouthHub Africa, Rotimi Olawale stated this in Abuja at a Men’s Summit organized as part of the Men’s Solidarity Week for Ending Violence against Women and Girls.
Mr. Olawale said the summit organized in collaboration with the Spotlight Initiative of the United Nations Women and the European Union was to encourage men to step up responsibility towards the reduction of violence against women and girls, and ending harmful traditional practices against the rights of women and girls.
Mr Olawale, explained that it was important for men to also talk about their experiences, saying the patriarchal nature of the Nigerian society, made it difficult for men to speak out.
He stated that there could be more data about men who suffer domestic violence if they spoke out and lamented the lack of adequate laws to protect victims and persons who suffered sexual and gender-based violence.
A former Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, Dame Julie Okah-Donli expressed happiness over the involvement of men, who are allegedly the primary perpetrators of sexual and gender based violence and enjoined government to criminalise the stigmatisation of victims, as well as those who convinced them to settle out of court.
Earlier, the Desk Officer of the FCT Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Response Team, Jacinta Ike, while presenting a situation report on SGBV in the FCT, said the Secretariat had handled a total of 110 cases in 2022, with 106 of the cases being females, while the remaining 4 were males.
Reporting By Daniel Adejo; Editing By Marian Benjamin