FG to establish emergency GBV response fund

The federal government has announced plans to establish an emergency gender-based violence (GBV) response fund to strengthen support for survivors and close critical funding gaps in Nigeria’s fight against gender-based violence. The Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja during the launch of a research report on technology-facilitated gender-based violence […]

The federal government has announced plans to establish an emergency gender-based violence (GBV) response fund to strengthen support for survivors and close critical funding gaps in Nigeria’s fight against gender-based violence.

The Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja during the launch of a research report on technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TF-GBV). 

The event was organised by the development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC) in collaboration with the Advancing Learning and Innovation on Gender Norms (ALIGN) and funded by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

Represented by her Special Adviser on Political Matters, Alhaji Nasir Zakari, the minister said the Emergency GBV Response Fund would be a ring-fenced mechanism to sustain safe spaces, emergency interventions and survivor-support services. 

“With this fund, we aim to guarantee operational stability, rapid response and uninterrupted access to care when it is needed most,” she said.

She described the current experiences of survivors as marked by “pain, uncertainties and vulnerabilities,” noting that Nigerian women and girls continue to face both physical and digital forms of violence, including abductions and conflict-related trauma. 

Sulaiman-Ibrahim said the launch of the TF-GBV report was timely, coinciding with the global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. 

In her welcome address, the executive director of dRPC, Dr Judith-Ann Walker, said the research findings were particularly relevant as the National Assembly, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and political parties were to review their gender policies. She urged stakeholders to use the report as a baseline for addressing TF-GBV in Nigeria.