Niger records over 1,000 rape, GBV cases from January to July

Over one thousand rape and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) cases have been recorded in Niger State from January to July 2025.

Mrs. Mary Isa, Director of Planning and the Gender-Based Violence Focal Person for the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Niger State, shared this information in Minna. She stated that rape and gender-based violence are a great menace, adding, “Her ministry is not comfortable with it, saying that the whole incidence keeps occurring on a daily and hourly basis.”

“From January to July 2025 alone, we have recorded over one thousand cases from different NGOs, and as I am talking to you, we have a central body we call a dashboard, where all these cases are supposed to be reported and uploaded to the National Dashboard,” she said.

Mary also lamented that the ministry received a report of a father who raped his nine-year-old daughter, highlighting that the act has seriously demoralized the children. She stated that it took the ministry time before the little girl could open up, promising that the father would definitely be punished according to the law.

“We also received a report of siblings sleeping with one another, fathers raping their own daughters; really, it has gone so bad,” Mary frowned.

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According to her, “We have been carrying out sensitization to markets, mechanic workshops, Emirate Councils, schools, and we also have anti-GBV initiatives in schools so that the students can report to their teachers, although some of the violators are teachers, and some are counselors.”

She further disclosed that only a few culprits have been arrested, but she expressed regret that the ministry is facing challenges with some parents who prefer to settle rape cases at the family level.

“Our service providers are on ground across the state; the victims can report any form of abuse, be it physical, sexual, emotional, or any form of gender-based violence,” she declared.

She further disclosed that the ministry is collaborating with security agencies and other stakeholders who are service providers so that anywhere they see and identify the culprits, they can be arrested and handed over to the law enforcement agencies.

Mary Isa thereby warned that perpetrators of this evil act will definitely face the wrath of the law.

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