Activists Demand State of Emergency in Nigeria Over Gender-Based Violence
Surge in Femicides Sparks Urgent Calls for Action
Activists and civil society organizations in Nigeria are calling for a state of emergency following the deaths of nearly two dozen women due to gender-based violence in the first two months of 2025. According to the Femicide Observatory, an initiative of the Lagos-based nonprofit Document Our History (DOHS) Cares Foundation, 17 femicides were recorded in January alone—an alarming 240% increase from the same period in 2024—while five additional cases were reported by mid-February. In total, over 100 femicides were documented last year.
Among the recent victims is Emrich Effanga, a hairstylist from Uyo, who was allegedly strangled by her boyfriend, a church usher. Weeks earlier, Mutiat Sholola died after reportedly being stabbed in the head and attacked with hot oil by her husband in Owode Egba, near Lagos. Both suspects have been arrested.
“The global trend continues—home remains the most dangerous place for Nigerian women and girls,” said Ololade Ajayi, founder of DOHS Cares. “Perpetrators act with impunity because there are rarely appropriate consequences for their crimes.”
Women’s rights groups attribute the rise in violence to a combination of factors, including misogynistic content online, inadequate legislation, and a weak legal system that fails to hold perpetrators accountable. Chioma Agwuegbo, executive director of the Abuja-based TechHerNG, argues that the reported statistics barely scratch the surface of the crisis.
“The numbers presented by civil society groups are just a fraction of reality,” Agwuegbo said. “Due to poor inter-agency coordination and a lack of public trust in the system, many cases go unreported. Government agencies launched data dashboards with much fanfare, but where is the accountability? The femicide numbers we see only represent cases that have gained online visibility—we are, without question, in a state of emergency.”
DOHS Cares has been advocating for stronger legal measures to address femicide, including a draft bill submitted to parliament last year. However, Ajayi revealed that the bill has been largely ignored.
In 2020, the Nigerian government, in collaboration with the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, launched a national dashboard to document cases of gender-based violence. An inter-ministerial committee was also formed to work with the State of Emergency GBV Movement, a coalition of women’s rights groups that campaigned for the initiative. By 2023, local reports suggested that the dashboard had recorded 27,698 cases, though it remains unclear how many perpetrators have been prosecuted.
“That committee barely met more than twice,” said Agwuegbo, who co-founded the movement after the brutal rape and murder of 22-year-old student Vera Uwaila Omozuwa in a church in Benin City. “What’s most shocking is that the alleged rapists and murderers in Omozuwa’s case were caught and remanded. But during the October 2020 jailbreak in Edo State, they were among those who escaped.”
In response to the ongoing crisis, DOHS Cares is organizing a protest march during the upcoming trial of another femicide victim, aiming to pressure authorities into taking decisive action. Activists insist that without urgent intervention, gender-based violence will continue to escalate, endangering more lives and reinforcing a culture of impunity.
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