Queen of England, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, on Tuesday, recognised a Nigerian volunteer, Itoro Eze-Anaba, with the 4th Commonwealth Point of Light award.

The recognition by the Queen of England was in honour of the support of Eze-Anaba for victims of rape and sexual assault.

“Itoro Eze-Anaba founded Nigeria’s first sexual assault referral centre in 2013 and since then, has helped over 3,100 victims of rape. ‘The Mirabel Centre’ has established itself as a key service provider for victims of sexual assault in Lagos State, with an increasing number of clients accessing the centre, indicating a growing awareness amongst members of the public of the existence of the centre and the crucial services it provides.

“Each Commonwealth Point of Light will receive a personalised certificate signed by Her Majesty, The Queen, as Head of the Commonwealth.

“The award for Itoro Eze-Anabe will be presented on February 6, 2018, at the British High Commissioner’s Residence by the British High Commissioner to Nigeria Paul Arkwright,” the British High Commission said.

On her part, Eze-Anaba said: “I am delighted that a Point of Light has been awarded to highlight the importance of tackling rape and sexual assault. Rape is evil, degrading and dehumanising.

“On behalf of the dedicated, tireless and resolute team that is determined to give voice to the voiceless, strength to the weak and hope to the hopeless, I am sure that this award marks the beginning of a joint effort to uproot this evil that relentlessly battles for our future. This award is a reiteration of our message of NO TO RAPE!”

Also, British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright,  said: “Itoro has shown impressive dedication to supporting victims of sexual assault and rape.

“She has provided a safe haven for over 2800 survivors of this heinous crime and has encouraged thousands of others to break the silence on rape and seek prosecution of perpetrators, reducing their impunity.

“The Mirabel Centre is a project of Partnership for Justice where rape and sexual assault victims can access free forensic medical and counselling services,” Arkwright said.

The Point of Light awards recognise outstanding volunteers every day of the week; people whose service is making a difference in their communities and whose story can inspire others to creative innovative solutions to social challenges in their own communities and beyond.

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Thirteen-year-old Rose* had been sexually and physically abused by her father for as long as she could remember. Her mother had left when Rose was very young, leaving her and her father alone in their one-room apartment in a populated suburb of Lagos.

Things got worse when the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown in Lagos led to the closure of schools and the implementation other social distancing measures, as Rose’s father saw this as an opportunity to rape her every night. He would physically abuse her whenever she tried to stop him.

Her stifled cries during one of those nights caught her neighbor’s attention, which finally led to Rose’s rescue. The neighbour alerted the owner of the apartment building, who reported the case to Mirabel Centre, a one-stop centre managed by Partnership for Justice, a non-profit organization supported by UNICEF that provides medical and psychosocial services to survivors of sexual violence.

The father was taken into custody, while medical examinations carried out on Rose revealed a pregnancy. She is currently receiving medical and psychosocial help and lives with the family of the neighbour that rescued her.

Rose’s case is one of many that are currently being handled by the Mirabel Centre since the lockdown began in Lagos. “We are worried.  The lockdown led to an over 50 per cent increase in the number of reported cases of sexual violence at our center. Up to 85 per cent of those cases were children,” said Itoro Ezeanaba, Executive Director of Partnership for Justice.

Nevertheless, Ezeanaba still suspects an under-reporting of incidents. “When this all ends and children are free to go out and back to school where they will be able to meet people they can confide in, we may witness an influx of cases,” she said.

Findings from the 2014 National Survey on Violence Against Children reveals that six out of every ten children in Nigeria have suffered one or more forms of physical, sexual or emotional violence before they reached 18, and that one in four girls and one in ten boys have experienced sexual violence. This violence often occurs in a place where the child is considered safe, such as their homes and schools, and fewer than five per cent of children who are victims of violence ever get the help they need to recover.

“It is worrisome that violence against children is often carried out by those known to the children, not strangers,” said Denis Onoise, a UNICEF Child Protection Specialist based in Lagos.

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Twenty-two-year-old Halima Bulama had just returned from the marriage ceremony of her relation mid-April in Kasaisa community in Damaturu, Yobe State, in northeast Nigeria when her husband, 22-year-old Ba’ari Abacha, in a fit of rage attacked her.

Mr. Abacha said his wife disobeyed him in attending the ceremony, and as punishment hacked off the woman’s right hand with a machete, according to the police.

At the teaching hospital in Damaturu where she was taken to for treatment, Halima said her husband was quick-tempered and vowed not to return to her husband in Kasaisa, one of hundreds of vulnerable communities in this Boko Haram-plagued region. “If he can cut off my hand then he can easily kill me,” she said.

The suspect, a nomad, told police he acted because of his wife’s “immoral disobedience to marital ethics.”

“She has been traveling without my permission. But as matter of fact, it was out of anger I did this. I regretted my action,” he said in the local Kanuri language at the police station.

Such attacks are common in Nigeria where violence against women remains a problem despite the growing campaign against it. But recent lockdowns imposed by the federal and states governments across the country to curtail the spread of coronavirus, has caused a spike in incidents that target women and children, activists say. This is because the restrictions have forced vulnerable persons to stay more closely to their attackers.

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The British Council has commended Mirabel Centre for providing “holistic and high quality medical and psychosocial services to survivors of sexual assault and rape.” The commendation came just as the Council’s 12-month “Thanks to You” 75th anniversary celebration is coming to an end. It started in June 2019. A statement by the Council, on Wednesday, said: “British Council Nigeria has been in Nigeria since 1944 and, every year, we reach out to students, educators, policymakers, academics, researchers, creatives and entrepreneurs in Nigeria to change lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.

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In a bid to curb the growing spate of sexual violence in Nigeria, the Mirabel Centre, Nigeria’s first Sexual Assault Referral Centre, has leveraged partnerships with ride hailing company, Bolt and emergency reporting app, Aabo.

The lockdown owing to COVID-19 brought numerous unfortunate realities to bear, one of which was the erratic increase in the rate of sexual violence across the country.

Earlier in June, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu was reported to have disclosed that the Nigerian Police recorded 717 cases of rape between January and May 2020. In a statement credited to the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development as reported by Premium Times, Nigeria recorded over 3,600 cases of rape during the lockdown. This is a pandemic within a pandemic.

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