…Calls for empowerment as protection, and outlines supports to trauma victims
Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) is a global human rights and public health concern, but a group says environmental damage has been implicated as major cause of violence against women in the oil region.
A report by Healthy Life Development Initiative (HELDi) says persistent environmental degradation and pollution in the region have contributed to heightened anxiety, economic hardship, and social tensions, which researchers have linked to increased levels of violence.
Thus, supporting women and girls in these vulnerable and marginalized communities remains both a moral and developmental obligation.
HELDI thus calls on all groups and agencies to join hands to put smiles on the faces of women and girls and help them secure a better life and a safer society.
For this reason, empowerment is now seen as protection through safety, dignity, and economic independence for SGBV survivors.
According to a position paper released in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, by Mfon Utin, executive coordinator, Healthy Life Development Initiative (HELDi), the prevalence and severity of violence against women, however, remain disproportionately high in many African countries due to deeply entrenched patriarchal systems, harmful cultural and social norms, unequal power relations, persistent gender inequality, weak enforcement of protective laws, stigma, silence, fear of retaliation, and limited access to justice with weak survivor-centred support services.
Utin said a critical factor that further exacerbates SGBV is the widespread poverty among women and their heavy economic dependence on intimate partners. This dependence often compels survivors to remain in abusive relationships despite the grave risks to their lives, dignity, and overall wellbeing.
According to the HELDi report, during the recently concluded ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence’, held from 25 November to 10 December in commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls, the group implemented extensive sensitization activities in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Read also: HELDi storms Omoku zone with war against sexual and gender-based violence
She said these interventions included both indoor and outdoor engagements such as market sensitization, road walk sensitization, and a large community dialogue that directly reached over 100 participants, with many more indirectly impacted through follow up discussions, referrals, and peer to peer engagements.
“The sensitization activities were conducted under the global UN theme “UNiTE to End Violence Against Women and Girls,” with a focused discussion titled: Women’s Safety Matters: Stop Violence in All Spaces, Promote Women’s Rights, and Support Psychosocial Well-Being to End Stigma, Depression, and Health Challenges.
“This thematic focus was informed by HELDi’s direct field experiences during the ‘Rise Up Together’ supported advocacy project aimed at establishing functional ‘SGBV Response Teams’ across three Local Government Areas representing the three senatorial districts of Rivers State to support survivors and reporting.”
During the implementation process, HELDi said it encountered numerous survivors living with severe trauma, depression, stigmatization, social isolation, and prolonged emotional and psychological distress, often without access to psychosocial support services or safe spaces for healing and recovery.
“These experiences directly informed HELDi’s decision to design trauma healing, psychosocial support programmes, and safe spaces for survivors. Alarmingly, both before and after the Eleme sensitization exercise, HELDi received distress calls from survivors across the three LGAs, not requesting rescue from abuse, but pleading for intervention to persuade their husbands or partners to allow them to stay peacefully in abusive homes and not be sent away.
“Further engagement revealed a troubling reality: many of these women are completely financially dependent on their abusers and lack the means to provide even the most basic necessities, including food, shelter, healthcare, and educational support for their children.
“This reality underscores a critical truth: economic empowerment for women is not a luxury, it is an urgent and indispensable necessity for breaking the cycle of abuse. Without financial independence, survivors are often forced to choose between continued violence and extreme poverty, homelessness, social rejection, or loss of custody of their children.”
HELDI said while SGBV cuts across all social classes, affecting educated and uneducated, employed, and unemployed women alike, field interactions reveal important distinctions. “Women who are financially stable may face less immediate physical risk, yet many continue to endure deep psychological trauma, depression, and stigmatization. Sadly, such women are often reluctant to speak out or seek help due to fear of public exposure, shame, reputational damage, and societal expectations. In many cases, educated women suffer silently, bearing intense emotional and mental pain that often goes unnoticed, even by close family members.”
Nevertheless, the report added, women living in poverty remain at the greatest risk. “Daily exposure to violence, lack of support systems, limited escape options, and the burden of providing for children under extreme hardship make them especially vulnerable to repeated abuse, exploitation, and long term trauma.
“African women must be supported to understand that their safety, dignity, happiness, and wellbeing are non-negotiable. Self-care, autonomy, informed decision making, and economic independence must be prioritized and intentionally passed on to younger generations.”
In today’s global economic crisis, further worsened in Nigeria by poor governance, Utin stated, weak policy implementation, rising unemployment, and limited social protection, women and girls, including educated graduates, must be encouraged not only to pursue formal education and professional advancement but also to acquire practical and income-generating skills that ensure long term sustainability.
“Multiple sources of income are increasingly essential for women to meet their needs and those of their families. Just as a soldier is better equipped to survive and defend himself on the battlefield with the right tools, a woman who is economically empowered and able to meet her immediate needs is better positioned to resist abuse, make informed choices, and reclaim control over her life.”
Utin said HELDi has repeatedly witnessed this reality in the field. “Its targeted support to a few survivors has shown that empowering survivors leads to positive and sustainable change. Some survivors, however, continue to face frustration and resistance from their husbands. This affects their progress and further underscores the importance of informed decision making by affected individuals.
“Women must be empowered to value their lives, heal from trauma, rebuild after abuse, and reclaim their strength, confidence, and purpose.”
According to Utin, since the sensitization campaign, many women and girls have been calling to seek help and psychosocial support.
HELDi, therefore, passionately called for increased support to enable the provision of economic empowerment programmes, skills acquisition, vocational training, seed funding, and small business start up support for survivors of SGBV.
“Empowerment restores dignity, choice, resilience, and safety, far more than remaining trapped in violent relationships due to fear, dependency, or coercion.”
HELDi, the coordinator stated, remains firmly committed to supporting survivors through sustainable empowerment pathways, rather than allowing women to continually plead for acceptance from partners who have subjected them to abuse, threats, and humiliation. Every woman deserves to live free from violence, fear, and harm, and with the right support systems in place, healing, independence, and lasting transformation are possible.
Utin said HELDi appreciates the support of its partners and donors and calls for increased collaboration to empower women and girls, particularly those in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
2.
ZEBULON AGOMUO,
Editor, BDSUNDAY
Coordinator, Politics desk
BUSINESSDAY NEWSPAPER (BusinessDay Media Ltd.)
Lagos-Nigeria
08023283822, 08054691823
zebulon.agomuo@businessdayonline.com, agomuozebulon@yahoo.com
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