Civil society and not-for-profit organisations have charged state governors and members of the State Houses of Assembly to prioritise efforts at ending Sexual and Gender Based Violence through effective and sufficient budgetary allocation to the course.
They urged governments at the sub-national level to make their 2025 budget gender responsive and inclusive in view of the increasing level of SGBV in the society.
The CSOs have embarked on visits to lawmakers and other stakeholders at their various states with the aim of facilitating funding that would accelerate efforts at combating rights abuse and violence, especially against women and girls in Nigeria.
In Osun, a human rights activist, Citizen Lola Wey, is leading a team of CSOs including Women Advocacy, Research and Documentation Center and African Women Development Fund to push for the realization of the gender-responsive budget, disclosing that poor implementation mechanisms, lack of coordination, poor enforcement capacity, limited resources, among other factors undermine the efficacy of Violence Against Persons Prohibition law, which is an instrument for addressing SGBV.
Addressing some lawmakers in Osun State – Abiola Ibrahim, the House Committee Chairman on Works and Transport, Awoyeye Jeremiah, House Committee Chairman on Youth, Sports and Special Needs and Olatunbosun Oladiran, House Committee Chairman on Agriculture – at the Assembly complex, Wey said the development of a gender-responsive budgeting framework will bring about strategic resource allocation for the implementation of VAPP Law.
She urged Governor Ademola Adeleke to invest in programmes aimed at addressing SGBV, asking the governor to create funding for resuscitation of the Sexual Assault Referral Centre in the state.
In an interview with The Point, Wey decried worsening cases of violence against girls and women, identifying improved budgetary allocation as a key way of combating the menace.
She noted that SGBV undermines both social and economic development and the individual’s capacity for realising their rights and potentials under already strained conditions, demanding for gender-responsive budgeting from the state executive government, State House of Assembly, Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
“This budget provision process entails incorporating a gender perspective at various stages – planning/ policy/ program formulation, assessment of needs of target groups, allocation of resources, implementation, impact assessment, and prioritization of resources.
“We believe that this gender-responsive budgeting framework will ensure that the human, financial, material and technical resources needed for policy implementation are provided for. It is designed to justify resource mobilization and to leverage financial and technical resources from multiple stakeholders.
“We believe that the push for this monetary provision will bring about effective implementation of VAPP in the budget. For instance, in Osun State, we believe that having this gender-responsive budget will make the Osun Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) functional and with it maximum operation, SGBV will more tackled,” she said.
Also canvassing for funding, the Executive Director of Health for the Society, Justice and Peace Initiative, Nkem Chukwu, urged governments at the sub national level to make their 2025 budget gender responsive and inclusive in view of the increasing level of gender based violence in Nigeria.
The human rights activist submitted that “Of utmost urgency is to allocate funds in the budget for government ministries, agencies and departments that implement programmes, activities and projects that impact women and men in an equitable manner and with a consideration of their peculiar needs as men, women, girls, disabled, aged or children.”
She stated that it is a mark of lack of political will that governments do not approve funds enough to actualise the projects as proposed in the budget.
Chukwu then charged governments to take a step beyond domesticating VAPP Law to its implementation which involves setting funds aside, establishing and strengthening the relevant institutions, building individual, staff and organisation capacity to ensure implementation.
