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The Nigeria Police Force says it attended to no fewer than 17,415 cases of gender and domestic-based violence in 2024.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, disclosed this at a webinar organised by the Wole Centre for Investigative Journalism and Innocent Chukwuemeka Chukwuma Empowerment Foundation on Thursday to mark the 59th posthumous birthday of human rights activist, Innocent Chukwuemeka Chukwuma.
Adejobi noted that out of the reported cases, 15,692 were charged in court while 409 convictions were secured.
He stressed that despite the number of reported cases, the majority of gender and domestic violence were unreported.
The FPRO noted that the percentage of convictions secured was low due to the attitudes of families of victims of gender and domestic values who often allow cultural values to override legal frameworks and the slow justice system in Nigeria.
He said, “With the 17,415 cases reported, which means we have some incidences that were never reported, we can only have an accurate figure by encouraging survivors’ relations to come forward to incident some of these cases because if we do not have an accurate figure recorded, we may not be able to have a proper evaluation of these incidences and the way to forge ahead or reviewing some of our laws.
“Out of the cases reported, 15,692 were charged to court while others are still under investigation. Convicted cases are 409 in 2024. As you can see, the figure is too small because if we charge 15,692 to court and we only get 409 convictions, this means that the legal procedure could be so slow which is part of the challenges that we need to collectively address.
“We see families of survivors going to court to file a motion that they don’t have interest in pursuing the case because the suspect is my brother’s uncle, he is my family and so on. Nigerians allowed our cultural values to override our legal framework.”
He concluded by urging stakeholders to collaborate with the police in training the officers in charge of gender and domestic violence.
Also speaking at the webinar, the Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Domestic Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, Titilayo Vivour-Adeniyi, stressed the need for a holistic investigation into gender violence offences to foster justice for victims.
She stressed the need for continuous training and empowerment of law enforcement officers in ensuring that proper investigation is carried out on gender violence cases
Vivour-Adeniyi said, “It is important for the DPP and the police prosecutors to be in a more symbiotic relationship because this will lead to successful prosecution in the future.
“The call to action is to ensure that justice is truly served. A robust investigative process must be at the forefront of our efforts to combat gender-based violence. This requires enhanced training and resources.
“Law enforcement investigative teams must be equipped with specialised training and resources necessary to handle these cases.”
In her remarks, the wife of the late Innocent Chukwuma, Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, decried the indiscriminate transfer of police officers to different units after they may have been trained through public resources.
She also emphasised the need for proper investigation in gender and domestic violence cases.
“A judge or magistrate cannot give rulings based on what I think, but based on what is presented in court. One of the challenges the police have is the issue of specialised units and training. In the military, when you have moved from Lagos infantry corp to Kaduna, you’re moved to infantry corp in Kaduna but with the police.
“What we who are on the field have seen is that when we train officers on how to handle cases, immediately after the training, within two weeks they are posted and when they are posted, they are posted to another unit,” Effah-Chukwuma said.
The highlight of the webinar included goodwill messages from friends, colleagues and family of the late Innocent Chukwuma, who eulogised his commitment to hard work, honesty and integrity.
