Sokoto
Aja Nwachukwu is a barrister in Abakaliki in southeast Nigeria. She’s the public prosecutor going after paedophiles in a region where there’s an epidemic of gender based violence and child rape. She has to build a solid case and push the legal system to move with more urgency for justice and tougher sentencing. She’s successfully convicted 26 men in the last 6 years and never lost a case.
Abuja
Awa is a child protection case worker with the state government in Lagos. Her work is extremely challenging and she deals with shocking cases of rape and abuse of young children every day. Awa makes regular visits to the safe houses they support to check up on the girls and see what other support or services they might need. She says that the intensity of her work makes it even more important to found joy and laughter with friends and colleagues to offset the darkness.
Rashidat Mohammed is a Human Rights Lawyer with a special interest in promoting the rights of women and children.She provides pro-Bono legal services for women and girls who have experienced violence in northwest Nigeria. She also represents vulnerable men and families who can't afford a lawyer and are struggling to get justice in the Nigerian legal system. As a passionate lawyer on human rights issues, she is well known in Sokoto for her outspoken defence of women and girls and her fierce prosecution of rapists and pedophiles. She is the first and only woman to open her own law firm within Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States. In addition to her round the clock work as a lawyer and activist, Rashidat is also a single mother who is the sole caregiver to her 3 children.
Blessing, Abakaliki, Ebonyi state
Abiola is the leader of a neighborhood watch program to keep girls safe in the Iwaya market in Lagos. It’s a tough part of a big city and attacks against girls were common for a few years. Abiola says things are changing. ‘Girls know they can come to me and I’ll help them,' she says. ‘But most of all, I get to know the girls and ensure they stay safe by avoiding dangerous places and bad situations.’ Abiola says it’s made a big difference for the girls, knowing there’s someone looking out for them.
Sokoto
Philomina is a part of an activist group that is working to end female genital mutilation. The women patiently sit with male community leaders and explain the long-term health impacts women suffer as a result of ‘cutting’. They’re starting to change attitudes by getting leaders to speak out and stand with them against this violence. She and her fellow members say that birth control is a critical part of reducing violence against girls, so families aren’t over stretched trying to look after too many children. Philomina says that violence against girls will stop when women are valued and included in community leadership roles.
Ijorodu, Lagos
Asmau, Sokoto.
Kulu is the director of the ministry of women’s affairs in sokoto state. She goes above and beyond to help girls who have been raped in their community. Families come to her and she uses her contacts to get them the right support; Sometimes it’s legal advice, medical treatment or psychological counseling. Kulu says each case is different and she responds to what the girl needs.
Asst Commandant Christy Umejiaku is the gender specialist with the civil defense in Sokoto state. She’s one of a handful of officers who’ve received training on how to protect victims and put children’s needs first when investigating rape cases. Christy says the training has helped her be more effective in her work and she now trains her fellow officers to share the knowledge and techniques. Civil defense is one of three law enforcement agencies that gets called when rapes occur in Sokoto, and it is seen by some as a way to seek justice while avoiding police bureaucracy.
Lagos
Ebonyi state
Abakaliki
Baale Ogogbe is a traditional chief in a bustling community outside Lagos. He’s often the first one called in cases of rape. He reports the matter to the police but then deals with keeping the peace between the families of survivors and the rapists. When a girl was gang raped last year, the boys escaped justice and Baale had to settle a peace. Sadly he asked the mother of the girl to leave the community as the best solution. He says ending violence against women and girls needs to include youth training and employment as part of the complex response to the issue.
Lagos
Itoro runs the Mirabel rape crisis center in Lagos. For ten years the center has been an outpost of support victims of rape in a city where government services struggle to cope with the scale of the needs. Itoro was visited the rape crisis center in Manchester in the UK almost 20 years ago. She returned to Nigeria and battled the patriarchal bureaucracy for a decade before she realized her dream of helping rape survivors in her own country. Mirabel helps traumatized girls and their families with every part of the recovery, from medical exams to legal advice.
Ayo is an activist who’s determined to end rape in Nigeria. She set up an organization called stand to end rape and works with survivors to provide legal advice and emotional support. Ayo says awareness and prevention are as important as services. She goes around the city speaking with students to break the silence on rape and foster a more constructive conversation about how girls can be empowered to stop this cycle of violence.
Hannah is 17. She’s a youth ambassador for a grassroots organization that encourages girls to speak out about the violence they’ve experienced. Hannah says it’s a process that requires patience and persistence. ‘Most girls don’t want to talk about it right away,’ she says. ‘I come back again and again and then slowly they start to open up and tell me about what they’ve been through.’ Hannah gives them advice on who to speak to and refers cases to get support. It’s a model of frontline services and it’s led by youth who want to end violence.
Aisha is a teacher in Sokoto province. She leads a program called Girls for Girls that helps them boost their confidence and articulate their dreams and ambitions. In a community where some leaders still question girls' education and many girls are married as children, Aisha says it’s important to be a role model for girls and give them the courage to aspire for more.
Iwaya market, Lagos
Elizabeth is a magistrate at the High Court in Abuja. In her 17 years on the bench, she’s seen countless cases of child abuse and child rape. She delivers maximum sentences but says her greatest frustration is the fact that most cases never come to trial. Even extreme cases where young children have been raped, the families often give up and drop charges before the courts have been able to convict. Elizabeth says she’s encouraged by more families speaking up and breaking the silence and she’s doing everything she can to deliver justice for the children.
Lola leads the domestic and sexual violence services team in Lagos. In a city where domestic violence is rampant, Lola and her team are forced to deliver services from a cramped container office that is always full of women seeking support. Lola is a lawyer and she advises mothers on how to navigate a baffling system to seek justice and support for their children. Lola says that cases are always complex and the day we visited she was counseling a mother who had been ostracized from her church because she accused the pastor of raping her young girls, ages 6 and 7. Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, he denies the charges and Lola is helping the family move to a new community to avoid the anger of the loyal parishioners.
Lagos
Abuja
Philomina is a part of an activist group that is working to end female genital mutilation. The women patiently sit with male community leaders and explain the long-term health impacts women suffer as a result of ‘cutting’. They’re starting to change attitudes by getting leaders to speak out and stand with them against this violence. She and her fellow members say that birth control is a critical part of reducing violence against girls, so families aren’t over stretched trying to look after too many children. Philomina says that violence against girls will stop when women are valued and included in community leadership roles.
Manuel, Cross River state
Lagos
Carolyn is an activist working to end violence against women and girls. She set up Girls Voices which empowers girls by teaching them how to make films about their lives and the issues that concern them. Carolyn says violence always comes through as the number one issue for girls around the country. Her organization helps them produce short documentaries and then hosts screenings in communities where violence is endemic. She says the process breaks the silence and each screening is followed by dozens of girls coming forward, eager to share their story and join the movement.
Abakaliki