The Fahimta Women and Youth Development Initiative (FAWOYDI) has carried out a one-day awareness creation on ending violence against women and girls in the Chikani community of Giade area of Bauchi State, northeast Nigeria.

Development Diaries reports that the CSO carried out the sensitisation in collaboration with ActionAid Nigeria, with funding from Global Affairs Canada.

The programme was organised in commemoration of the 16 days of Activism to end violence against women and girls.

During the process, focus group discussions were held among women groups and adolescent girls.

Furthermore, community stakeholders reiterated their commitment to championing the campaign against violence against women and girls.

The FOWOYDI Programme Manager, Women Voice and Leadership, Florence Daniel, stated that women and girls are the future of the nation, hence they need to be protected and given a sense of belonging in the community.

‘Violence against women and girls is one of the biggest challenges in the country, so this sensitisation programme is timely because of the importance that it holds’, she said.

‘We are here to sensitise women and girls that they have rights that should not be violated, therefore, women in this community must always guide the younger girls to avoid exposing themselves to situations that result in any form of violence’.

The leader of the women peer group in Chikani, Hauwa Bello, called for more awareness campaigns and other sensitisation programmes that will champion the rights of women, girls and children.

In June 2021, the Chief Registrar of High Court Bauchi, Emmanuel Sublim, revealed that Magistrates’ Courts in the state were recording no fewer than five counts of rape and other cases of gender-based violence daily.

Data from the United Nations (UN) also show that in Nigeria, 30 percent of girls and women aged between 15 and 49 are reported to have experienced sexual abuse.