At a symposium in Yaba recently, students from different tertiary institutions in
Lagos spoke about campus sexual violence and the strides being taken to tackle this
menace.
The Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF) is the NGO that organized
this event following the successful completion of the first ever virtual online
classroom training program on the Prevention of Sexual Violence in Nigeria.
This program is in partnership is with the joint EU-UN Spotlight Initiative -a global
multi-year partnership between the European Union and the United Nations to
eliminate all forms of sexual and gender-based violence against women through
various implementation programs and partners all over the world. The Initiative
represents an unprecedented global effort to invest in gender equality and women’s
empowerment as a precondition and driver for the achievement of the Sustainable
Development Goals.
The project which was launched in January 2020 with an aim to increase the
awareness of gender based violence and to design and adopt school related gender
based violence policies in tertiary institutions. Following the high and increasing rate
of sexual violence and harassment in these institutions; it was necessary to
implement a program such as this to break the culture of silence, offer solutions and
ensure the overall reduction of these cases.
The revolutionary online training program involved over 3000 university students
from 163 institutions across Nigeria. These participating students will now go on to
cascade the knowledge learnt and also implement different awareness programs and
activities in their various schools and communities as advocates and ambassadors.
Speaking on the prevalence of sexual violence in tertiary institutions and the
partnership with WARIF; Ms. Comfort Lamptey, UN Women Country
Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS stated that “Breaking the silence on sex
for grades, and exposing the magnitude of the issue, is the first step to
ending sexual harassment and violence in tertiary education
institutions. We need laws and policies, both at the level of the
institutions themselves and at the national level. As UN Women, along
with our partner UN agencies, we remain committed to supporting the
government and people of Nigeria to end sexual harassment in tertiary
education institutions, and all forms of violence against women and
girls”.
Founder of WARIF, Dr. Kemi DaSilva- Ibru also stated on this partnership “ WARIF
is proud to partner with the UN and the EU on the Spotlight Initiative to reduce the
prevalence of gender based violence in our tertiary institutions by working
directly with the student based organizations and the school authorities in
adopting strategies and facilitating mechanisms that will provide the much needed
support and safety to all students on campuses across the Country.”
One of the students who attended the training, Adebayo Olalekan Martin-Rita – a
300level student of Philosophy at the University of Lagos stated that she enrolled for
the program to learn how to change the narrative on molestation and rape. The
training shaped her views and gave her more insight into the prevention of GBV and
how to tackle gender based violence.
About WARIF:
Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF) is a non-profit organization
founded in 2016 by Dr Kemi DaSilva Ibru MD;MPH in response to the high
incidence of sexual assault, rape and human trafficking occurring amongst young
girls and women across Nigeria. The Foundation was established to raise awareness
and address the prevalence of this problem through the “WARIF Approach” – a
unique holistic method of tackling Gender Based Violence through the development
and implementation of a series of initiatives, targeting both the
intervention/treatment of these affected women, as well as providing preventive
measures in education and community service to reduce the high incidence.
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