One in every five Nigerian women between the ages of 15 and 49 has experienced physical or sexual violence. The figure, revealed at the launch of a new specialised Media Corps in Abuja, has sharpened calls for more rigorous and sustained media attention to sexual and gender-based violence across the country.
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), working with the European Union and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), unveiled the initiative under the EU-supported End Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Programme. Journalists were trained to investigate and report SGBV cases with greater depth, ethical care and sensitivity.
The 21 per cent statistic places the new corps in a sobering national context. SGBV is not a fringe issue affecting a few victims; it is a widespread problem with serious consequences for women, families and communities. The Media Corps is therefore structured to move reporting beyond the usual cycle of individual rape, assault or abuse stories. The goal is sustained journalism that tracks patterns, names perpetrators and enablers, questions institutional responses, and keeps pressure on authorities to deliver protection and justice.
Stakeholders at the launch made it clear that the battle against SGBV cannot be left to the police and the courts alone. The media, they insisted, must help expose abuses that remain hidden, give survivors a platform, challenge victim-blaming and harmful social norms, and ensure that cases do not vanish from public view once the initial outrage fades.
The corps will equip journalists with a firmer grasp of the legal, psychological and social dimensions of SGBV. It will also strengthen their capacity to report without sensationalism or practices that risk further traumatising survivors. This is especially important in a country where fear, stigma, victim-blaming and weak confidence in the justice system continue to discourage many victims from speaking out.
For NAPTIP, whose core mandate includes fighting human trafficking and related exploitation, the partnership offers a chance to deepen public understanding of the connections between trafficking, sexual exploitation and other forms of gender-based violence. The initiative is also expected to improve collaboration among journalists, government agencies, civil society groups and other institutions working on prevention, protection, prosecution and survivor support.
Yet organisers stressed that specialised training must go hand in hand with a firm commitment to ethical standards. Journalists must protect the dignity and privacy of survivors, avoid sensational headlines, respect due process, and ensure that their work does not expose victims to fresh stigma, retaliation or psychological harm.
The larger ambition is to transform SGBV coverage from a series of isolated breaking-news stories into consistent accountability journalism. With one in five Nigerian women reportedly affected by physical or sexual violence, the stakes could not be higher.
The real test of the Media Corps will not be how many journalists pass through the training. It will be whether its members can dig up hidden cases, expose systemic failures, compel institutions to act, and keep SGBV firmly on Nigeria’s national agenda. In a society where silence often shields perpetrators, the new corps is being positioned as a force to ensure that violence against women does not stay in the shadows and that survivors are not reduced to forgotten statistics.
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