ActionAid Nigeria has expressed deep concern over the growing use of social media and other digital platforms to harass, intimidate, and silence women and girls across the country.
In a statement issued on Tuesday to mark the commencement of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, themed “UNiTE to End Digital Violence Against All Women and Girls,” Country Director Dr. Andrew Mamedu warned that online threats are compounding the physical dangers already confronting girls, especially in insecure regions.
Dr. Mamedu noted that despite ActionAid’s long-standing efforts to create safe spaces for women and girls through initiatives such as the Safe Cities project, Women’s Voice and Leadership programmes, and community-based GBV response efforts across 21 states and the FCT, digital abuse remains a growing crisis.
“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,” he said. “We UNiTE today to break this cycle, fortifying schools against physical violence and abduction, while safeguarding digital spaces from virtual predators.”
He highlighted recent attacks on educational institutions, including the abduction of 25 students and the killing of a vice-principal at Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, Kebbi State, as examples of the worsening insecurity forcing schools in several northern states—including Kwara, Niger, Plateau, Bauchi, and Kebbi—to shut down. According to UNICEF, 60% of out-of-school children in northern Nigeria are girls, a number expected to increase as insecurity persists.
Survivors of abductions, he noted, often face sexual and domestic slavery, with perpetrators extending their intimidation online.
Mamedu listed various forms of Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) prevalent in Nigeria, including cyberstalking, doxxing, deepfakes, sextortion, persistent online harassment, and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. These abuses, he said, isolate victims, disrupt education and work, and suppress women’s participation in society.
A 2024 UNFPA report shows that between 16% and 58% of women and girls globally experience TFGBV, with Nigeria recording more than 6,000 GBV cases in the first five months of 2024. Research by Hivos and the Development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC) indicates that tech-enabled abuse disproportionately affects already marginalised women and girls, intensifying trauma and perpetuating cycles of poverty.
ActionAid, alongside women’s rights groups and survivor networks, called on the Federal Government, State Governments, the National Assembly, law enforcement agencies, regulators, and international partners to take urgent action. Their demands include:
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Domestication and implementation of African Commission Resolution 522 (2023) on protection from online violence;
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Prosecution of perpetrators of school abductions;
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Establishment of a National Task Force on Technology-Facilitated GBV;
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Budgetary allocation for digital safety of women and girls in the 2026 national budget;
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Strengthening survivor-focused reporting and justice systems.
ActionAid urged all Nigerians to recognise that the safety of women and girls—online and offline—is a collective responsibility, stressing the need for decisive action to ensure every girl can learn, grow, and thrive free from fear.
