This project of FIDA Nigeria aims to achieve gender equality and empowerment through the adoption of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act (VAPP Act) 2015 in Rivers State and effective utilisation of this law in Lagos State and Abuja in the prosecution of perpetrators of all forms of violence against women and children. The VAPP Act was enacted to tackle the continuous and persistent increase in the cases of violence against people in Nigeria. This legislation prohibits and criminalises various acts like rape, physical injury on a person, female genital mutilation and emotional, verbal, and psychological abuse and political violence. The wealth of this legislation is unknown to many. The statute has not been tested by the courts therefore gaps in the legislation are not yet revealed. The Act however, is believed to be a valuable tool in the hand of any lawyer working for the promotion, protection and preservation of the rights of women and children in Nigeria. When the Act is effectively implemented and perpetrators punished, survivors of violence are encouraged to speak out and other potential perpetrators are deterred. This project works on 4 levels:

• Advocacy towards the members of Rivers State House of Assembly, the Attorney General and Governor/First Lady of Rivers State, and other influential traditional/religious to give their support in the domestication of the VAPP Law in the state.
• Community outreach in three Local Government Areas in Rivers State with high incidence of Gender Based Violence (GBV) to educate on the provisions of the VAPP law and the reporting channels in cases of abuse.
• Providing Members of the Nigerian Bar Association (with a particular focus on members of FIDA Nigeria) with in-depth information on the provisions of the Act to encourage effective utilisation in the courts.
• Engagement of the Judiciary and the Nigerian Police Force in technical sessions where provisions of the Act are carefully studied to achieve a clear understanding of each player’s role in prosecution.

Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Nigeria 

Nigeria like many African countries have had their fair share of gender discrimination, abuse & violation. Thus, when President Jonathan signed the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) bill into an Act in 2015, Nigerian civic space was agog with celebrations. It was a celebration of victory recorded after decades of advocacies and campaigns, victory over patriarchal system entrenched within the society for years; celebration of a new dawn for feminist movements and women’s rights organisations as the much awaited legal framework to facilitate implementation was now available. 

However, things do not always work as expected. Like many legislations in Nigeria, implementation of the VAPP Act was not an easy task due to limited resources available for relevant agencies of government to implement it. More worrisome was the realisation that the Act applies only at Federal level, and within the Federal Capital Territory Abuja. A few states have taken the laudable step of adopting the bill or similar version as their state law, but this is like a drop in the ocean compared to the 36 States of the Federation. 

FIDA Nigeria is a professional body of female lawyers who are committed to the protection, preservation and promotion of the rights of women and children. They are non-governmental & non-profit focused organistion. They are recognised as a big influential feminist group in Nigeria. Through their project, they sought to ensure effective implementation of VAPP Law in Lagos State where it has been adopted; and the passage of same/similar bill into Law in Rivers State. 

Due to internal changes that happened within the organisation at the time of implementation, and the unpredictable nature of Nigerian legislative system, passage of the Law in Rivers State was not realised, however, the project was able to make laudable impact re- effective implementation of the Law in Lagos State. Part of the implementation strategy was to take up cases of gender-based violence and test decisions of court based on the Law. Though many cases could not be concluded within the life of the project, the project was nevertheless able to draw attention of both lawyers, judges and public to critical provisions of the Law and the beauty of the policy. The project also established a synergising platform comprising of agencies of government like the gender unit of Nigeria police, and the CSO, as watch-dogs over effective implementation of the Law. This platform has helped coordinate intervention on gender based violence cases. 

FIDA Nigeria has learnt through this project that where set outcome areas become over ambitious due to circumstances beyond their control (in this case- the legislative system), then wisdom should be applied to re-channel efforts to activities that can add value to the project, and not necessarily stick to an outcome that does not seem to be working out.