THE Country Programme Director, West Africa Solidarity Center, Mr Sonny Ogbuehi, has said that about 57 per cent of women have experienced Gender-Based Violence and Harassment (GBVH) in Nigeria.
Ogbuehi said this on Monday at an Integrated Coalition workshop organised by the Center and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Abuja.
The theme of the workshop is: “Towards strengthening networks among individuals, communities and institutions to address discrimination and Gender-Based Violence and Harassment (GBVH) in the World of Work”.
He said the figure was obtained from research conducted by the Solidarity Centre and the NLC on the GBVH.
According to him, one of the astonishing things is that 57 per cent of women have been subjected to harassment at work and even rape.
He added that the informal sector had the highest prevalence rate of GBVH of about 61 per cent out of the 57 per cent.
Ogbuehi said the workshop was apt considering the cases of harassment and rape recorded in the world of work in Nigeria and the need to make workplace safe for all.
He also said that the workshop was expected to cause a drastic change in the society for difficult reasons such as culture, religion among others.
He however, said that it would take more than a labour centre to cause that change and achieve the desired result.
He further called on the government, civil society, faith based organisations and traditional rulers to join hands to fight against the scourge of GBVH.
“This is because a concerted effort is needed from all to come up with a plan to address this problem,” he said.
Ogbuehi further urged the Nigeria government to ensure total implementation and enforcement of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 190 which protects women in the World of Work.
Also speaking, the former Senior Special Assistant to the President on Employment and Job creation, Mrs Tilda Mmgwa, said the programme was apt because once a woman is violated, it affects the whole family.
Mmgwa added that a woman was central to the development and growth of the family and that there must be a conserted effort to protect her.
She said the workshop was organised to build the capacity and power of individual women in a community and in a nation.
“If you elevate the lives of women, it will offer great opportunities for everyone and also build a better society, because women are the producers of lives,” she said.
She added that the only way to curb GBVH was for all to see it as a problem and take it personal because “when a woman is violated, harassed it will inflect on everybody around her”.
Mmgwa therefore called on all to be committed to fight against gender-based violence and harassment by ensuring the protection of women at the workplace.
The traditional ruler of Minini Iriebe Oyinbo in Okirika, Rivers State, Ubon Jones Gogo, described the workshop as enlightening and educative.
On the way to curb GBVH at the workplace, Gogo said that the message must be preached in communities and homes since charity begins at home.
A participant, Mr Aliyu Madi, Deputy Immam, Muslim Community Akpajo, Eleme, River State, said the workshop was timely.
Madi said that Islam literally meant peace, and that anything contrary to that, means going against the ethics and teaching of Islam.
“For us, we have rights that protect women in Islam and it is always advisable for one not to go contrary to that,” he said. (NAN)
