ActionAid raises alarm over rising digital violence

As the world observes the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and begins the annual 16 Days of Activism, ActionAid Nigeria is urging for immediate and coordinated efforts to tackle the rising problem of Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) in the country.

Dr. Andrew Mamedu, the Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, stated on Tuesday in Abuja that digital spaces, which were once viewed as tools for empowerment, are increasingly being weaponised to harass, stalk, silence, and endanger women and girls.

While noting that, this year’s theme, “Unite to end digital violence against all women and girls,” highlights the global push to curb online abuse, Mamedu said, the girls in Nigeria are faced with the dangers of physical insecurity in schools and escalating cyber-violence.

“In a nation where one in four girls experience sexual violence before the age of 18, the combination of physical and online threats is a crisis that deprives our girls of safety, education, and their future,” he said.

According to the ActionAid boss, Nigeria’s education system continues to grapple with widespread insecurity adding that, the recent abduction of 25 students and the killing of a vice-principal at Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi State, has heightened fear across northern communities.

He said schools in Kwara, Niger, Plateau, Bauchi, and Kebbi states, along with 41 Unity Schools nationwide, have been forced to shut down due to rising attacks.

Mamedu said, TFGBV in Nigeria manifests in cyberstalking, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, deepfakes, doxxing, sextortion, and sustained online harassment, saying that these forms of abuse disrupt education, livelihoods, and social participation while deepening trauma