Senate Passes Bill Seeking To Teach Preventive Measures Against S-exual, Gender Based Vio-lence In Schools

The Senate has passed the bill seeking to make a subject compulsory in secondary schools, which teaches students preventive skills against sex-ual and gender-based viole-nce into law.

The legislation is titled, “ Mandatory Inclusion of Preventive Measures on Se-xual and Gender Based Vio-lence into the Curriculum of all levels of Secondary Schools in Nigeria Bill, 2023”

The Senate leader, Senator Ibrahim Gobir who sponsored the bill, noted that the bill would allow a systematic and sustainable approach to awareness creation, preventive measures, case management, psychosocial support, and case reportage/referral approaches to issues of gender-based v-iolence.

The senate leader also noted that the subject would also cover related offences and child rights violations, “which include but not limited to sex-ual viol-ence such as ra-pe, harass-ment, intimidation, etc.; child abuse, bul-lying and tor-ture, domestic vi-olence, harmful practices such as female genital mutilation; branding a child a witch; child marriage; gender discrimination, child trafficking for labour/slavery, prostituti-on, ritual killi-ngs; the prevalent organ harvesting as reported by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffi-cking in Persons and more.”

The lawmaker said, “The decision to propose the introduction of this bill is informed by a recent research that shows that there are significant benefits in targeting teenagers and young adults with the knowledge of preventive teachings against issues of Sex-ual and gender-based viol-ence, their basic body/human rights, referral pathways or case management of this nature and integrating the teachings into the Secondary School curriculum, which will lead to outcomes that are far-reaching as both genders and those in urban and rural areas will have equal opportunity to learn.

“It is cost-effective, timely and sustainable. Like it is said, ‘a stitch in time saves nine.’ The bill, when enacted, will tackle the prevalent issues of the SGBV and will further address child protection rights and related issues such as sexu-al vio-lence, r-ape and harassment.”

He noted, “Often in Nigeria and this part of the world, we have always focused on the victim/survivor-based approach of addressing issues as the SGBV. Increasing the punitive measures, se-x offender registry, some unsuccessful litigations like that of the late Ochanya‘s case in Benue State, and more. These are all good but we need to focus and pay more attention to preventive approaches as proposed here in this bill.

“To reduce cases of the SGBV and its related offence, experts have mentioned that individuals, groups and systematic interventions should be implemented in schools and must include students, teachers, administrators and parents’ participation.

“This is one of the systematic approaches to tackling this issue by early intervention by catching them young with this enlightenment which will also put our children on their toes to detect the red flags and be on guard. This will also avail them the opportunity to referral pathways for reportage.”

The lawmaker mentioned domestic vi-olence which includes “what to do if it is happening between parents or caregivers,” citing the case of the late Gospel singer, Osinachi.

He stated, “This bill’s aims are clear, specific, achievable, measurable and realistic. Introduce anti-Se-xual and Gender Based Viol-ence teachings into the academic curricula of all Nigerian secondary schools, into a compulsory general subject – Civic Education; as a novel, wide-reaching, cost-effective and sustainable way of tackling SGBV cases and its related offences.

“Increase the proportion of all secondary school students (male and female) with correct knowledge of the concept of the SGBV, its components, basic body/human rights, who can be a perpetrator, how the perpetrators prowl, preventive tips, referral pathways, risk factors of silence/non-reportage and preventive practices/tips.

“The goal is to have at least 80 per cent of all the participating students achieving satisfactory knowledge within 12 months of the rollout to each cohort. When they learn, they will pass to their siblings, friends and generations. This is a more sustainable systematic approach to solving this problem.”

Also passed into law are ; National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) Act(Amendment) bill,2023; National Metallurgical Training Institute, Onitsha(Establishment)bill, 2023; Budget of the Federation Bill ,2023; Bank Employees (Declaration of Assets) Act (Amendment) bill, 2023 and Federal Medical Centers Act (Amendment) bill, 2023.