TheCable

A report by Invictus Africa and BudgIT says Lagos is performing better compared to other states in gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response.

The report titled “Womanity Index” assessed gender-based violence response by states.

It was launched in Abuja on Monday with support from Ford Foundation.

States were ranked under five different indexes in the order of blue, green, amber, and red with blue indicating the best performance.

The indexes are laws and policies, legal justice, support services, information and awareness, and budget and spending.

The report ranked four states—Abia, Ekiti, Imo, and Lagos— as “blue states” under the laws and policies index.

According  to the report, the four states
have established robust legal frameworks
that criminilise GBV.

The report further indiccated that the states have made consistent and result-producing efforts at strengthening laws, policies, and customs on GBV response within an eight-year period.

“On the Access to Legal Justice Index, six states — Oyo, Cross River, Zamfara, Kebbi, Ebonyi and Katsina— are ranked “Red States” due to their weak system for GBV reporting, prosecution, and enforcement, lack of witness protection programs, lack of or insufficient dedicated GBV courts and judges, and/or the existence of informal justice system with processes and outcomes that perpetuates or advances GBV,” the report reads.

“While Lagos state maintains its “Blue” ranking also for the support services index, five states—Ekiti, Rivers, Adamawa, Ogun, and Borno—are ranked “Green States” and 24 states are ranked “Amber States.”

“These states, per our data and evidence, have at least one active shelter or SARC, where the differentiating factor is the number of these structures to the state’s population, as well as their functionality, accessibility, range of services, and their ownership/management by the state government.”

The report noted that while no state ranked as a blue on the information and awareness index, eight states fell under the category of “Green”.

The eight states are Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, FCT, Lagos, and Ogun.

“These “Green States” not only ensured a widespread dissemination of GBV IEC materials, but also frequently carried
out sensitisation and awareness campaigns in all local governments within the state,” the report said.

In the budget and spending index, no state was ranked Blue but Akwa Ibom and Delta, were ranked green.

Twenty-nine states, including Abia, Yobe, Zamfara, Borno and Kogi, were ranked green.

LAGOS TOPS OVERALL RANKING

In the overall ranking, Lagos attained the blue code while Benue, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Plateau, and Zamfara were ranked as red.

“Overall, Lagos state stays lonely at the top
as the only state to attain the “Blue” status
on GBV prevention and response,” the report said.

“Close to Lagos, ranked as “Green States”, are Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Delta, and Ogun States.

“While being a ‘Blue State’ does not connote perfection, it signifies that in comparison to others, the state is performing well based on the cumulative assessment of its performance across the five indexes.”