ActionAid Laments the Use of Social Media to Silence Women and Girls in Nigeria

By: Michael Mike

ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) has decried that social media and digital platforms intended to empower, are increasingly exploited to harass, stalk, and silence women and girls. In Nigeria.

AAN in a statement on Tuesday to commemorate the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence with the theme, “UNiTE to End Digital Violence Against All Women and Girls.” signed by its Country Director, Dr. Andrew Mamedu lamented that digital threat compounds the physical dangers girls face in schools amid rising insecurity, creating a dual crisis that demands immediate and collective action.

Mamedu said: “ActionAid Nigeria has long championed safe spaces for women and girls through initiatives such as our Safe Cities project, Women’s Voice and Leadership Nigeria project, the Renewed Women’s Voice and Leadership project, Local Rights Programme and community-based GBV response programs across 21 states and the FCT. In a nation where one in four girls experience sexual violence before the age of 18, the combination of physical and online threats is a crisis that deprives our girls of safety, education, and their future.

“We UNiTE today to break this cycle, fortifying schools against physical violence and abduction, while safeguarding digital spaces from virtual predators.”

He lamented that Nigeria’s education system, intended to be a safe environment for learning, is increasingly under threat. The abduction of 25 students and the killing of a vice-principal at Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi State, underscores the fear gripping many northern communities.

He further decried that across the country, schools in Kwara, Niger, Plateau, Bauchi, Kebbi, and 41 Unity schools have closed due to insecurity, forcing children out of classrooms. UNICEF reports that 60% of out-of-school children in northern Nigeria are girls, a figure likely to rise as insecurity persists. Survivors of abductions are often subjected to sexual and domestic slavery, while perpetrators extend their threats online, amplifying fear and intimidation.

He noted that Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence in Nigeria takes many forms, including cyberstalking, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, deepfakes, doxxing, sextortion, and persistent online harassment, insisting that these abuses isolate and shame women and girls, disrupting their education, work, and social participation.

A 2024 UNFPA report indicates that between 16% and 58% of women and girls worldwide experience TFGBV, with Nigeria recording over 6,000 GBV cases in the first five months of 2024 alone.

He said Tech-enabled abuse has real and tangible impacts, particularly on women and girls already marginalised by factors such as ethnicity, disability, or geography. Reports from organisations including Hivos and the Development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC) show that TFGBV intensifies trauma, suppresses voices, and perpetuates cycles of poverty.

H noted that ActionAid Nigeria, alongside women’s rights organisations, survivors, and communities across the country, calls on the Federal Government, State Governments, the National Assembly, law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, and international partners to urgently take the following actions:

Domesticate and implement the African Commission Resolution 522 (2023) on protection from internet-based violence; Arrest and prosecute perpetrators of school abductions to reduce insecurity in educational institutions; Establish a National Task Force on Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence to coordinate prevention and response efforts; Allocate specific budget lines for the digital safety of women and girls in the 2026 appropriation; Strengthen survivor-centred reporting and justice mechanisms for both physical and online gender-based violence.

ActionAid Nigeria called on all Nigerians to recognize that the safety of women and girls is the responsibility of every individual, community, and institution, stressing that together, we must act decisively to ensure every girl can learn, live, and thrive free from fear, both online and offline.

ActionAid Laments the Use of Social Media to Silence Women and Girls in Nigeria