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COVID-19: 45% of women suffered domestic violence during lockdown – Survey

A national survey has revealed that at least 45.2 per cent of women in ten states of the federation suffered domestic violence during the COVID-19 lockdown. This was disclosed yesterday in Lagos by a report on the outcome of a survey on “Rapid Gender Analysis of the Impact of COVID-19 on Households in Nigeria,” presented by Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) with the support of ActionAid and UKAid. The selected states were Lagos, FCT, Kano, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Bornu, Osun, Ogun, Kwara and Kaduna with the questionnaire distributed randomly to selected households across the states.

At the presentation, founding director of WARDC, Dr. (Mrs.) Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, said domestic violence was least experienced by female respondents from Kwara and Kano states, just as she added that the highest proportion of girls and women that were sexually abused were FCT, Kaduna and Lagos states.

The survey further indicated that COVID-19 “exacerbates pre-existing structural inequalities in income, decision making between men and women.” According to the survey, 75.8 per cent of women across the nine states selected did not receive any support from the government during the COVID-19 lockdown.

The report added that distribution of palliatives became an avenue for corrupt practices, especially officials of the states, whom he said simply hijacked the process and diverted palliative materials to their cronies and family members.

She said the emergence of task forces across the states were not gendersensitive in the composition of team members and decision making. “Principles of transparency and accountability did not provide the guiding framework for Nigeria’s emergency response to COVID-19,” she added. The survey further revealed that there was an upsurge in cases of domestic violence and gender-based violence against women during the lockdown.

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