Mobile App Created To Report Gender Violence In Kano Documents 15 Cases In 1 Month

A mobile application created by the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), has reported 15 cases of gender based violence all targeting women and girls of Kano State, Northwest Nigeria, in Feb. 2022, the non-profit says.

According to CITAD, the application was developed by the non-profit for residents  to compile a comprehensive database of sexual and gender violence in the state’s urban and rural areas, particularly among students attending public schools.

The culture of shame has been identified as a barrier to reporting cases of gender violence to authorities in the state, particularly rapes of girls and minors. People can use the app to report cases without revealing their identities.

According to Zainab Aminu, the organisation’s Gender Officer, eight cases of sexual harassment were reported in Feb. 2022 by women and girls aged 13 to 29. 

According to the data, all of the victims came from cities.

The data collected by the online application showed four other women between the ages of 19 and 29 have been sexually abused, and one girl has been raped.

“The data depicts the persistent occurrence of Gender-Based Violence, most especially the high number of sexual harassments,” she said. 

The Gender Officer at CITAD called for action against all forms of gender violence, particularly those that go unreported in rural areas where people do not have full internet access.

“Keeping silent will not protect the victims who suffer. It encourages the perpetrators to take this silence as a stamp of acceptability,” she said. 

 Aminu urged parents and authorities to take legal action against all perpetrators of sexual and gender violence.

“While we continue to monitor, we would like to encourage parents, relatives, and others to always report cases to us or other sister NGOs, as well as government agencies such as the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), National Orientation Agency (NOA), and Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC),” she said.

According to a report, over 4000 cases of defilement against minors were recorded in Kano state between 2016 and 2021, with many cases going unreported.