The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), in partnership with the European Union (EU) and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), has launched a dedicated media corps to strengthen journalism on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in Nigeria.
The initiative, unveiled in Abuja under the EU-supported End Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Programme, is designed to equip journalists with specialised skills to investigate, report and sustain public attention on SGBV cases while promoting accountability and protecting the dignity of victims and survivors.
The organisers said the initiative seeks to move media coverage of SGBV beyond episodic reporting of individual incidents to sustained investigative journalism capable of exposing perpetrators, institutional failures and the social conditions that enable violence against women, girls and other vulnerable groups.
Stakeholders at the launch stressed that combating SGBV requires more than law enforcement and judicial intervention, noting that an informed and responsible media is critical to breaking the culture of silence surrounding sexual violence.
The Media Corps is expected to provide participating journalists with specialised knowledge and practical tools for accurate, ethical and sensitive reporting of SGBV cases. It will also promote reporting practices that prevent the re-victimisation of survivors through sensationalism, victim-blaming or unnecessary disclosure of sensitive information.
The partnership is also expected to strengthen collaboration among journalists, government agencies, civil society organisations and other stakeholders involved in preventing and responding to sexual and gender-based violence.
For NAPTIP, the initiative comes amid persistent concerns over trafficking, sexual exploitation, violence against women and girls, and other forms of abuse that often intersect with SGBV.
Beyond reporting individual cases, the media corps is expected to deepen public understanding of the structural dimensions of gender-based violence and draw attention to gaps in prevention, protection, prosecution and survivor support.
Participants emphasised the need for journalists to understand the legal, psychological and social dimensions of SGBV to ensure that reports are factual, sensitive and free from stereotypes that could further expose survivors to stigma or harm.
They said specialised journalism could help identify patterns of abuse, amplify survivors’ voices, scrutinise institutional responses and sustain public pressure on authorities to strengthen protection mechanisms and prosecute perpetrators.
Stakeholders also called for improved cooperation between the media and agencies responsible for tackling SGBV, stressing the importance of access to credible information while respecting due process, privacy and survivors’ rights.
The initiative comes against a backdrop of persistent under-reporting of sexual and gender-based violence, fear of stigmatisation, victim-blaming, limited access to justice and reluctance among survivors to publicly disclose their experiences.
Stakeholders consequently described responsible journalism as essential to ensuring that victims are heard without being subjected to further trauma.
With the establishment of the Media Corps, NAPTIP, the EU and International IDEA aim to build a specialised network of journalists capable of transforming SGBV reporting from isolated news events into sustained accountability journalism focused on prevention, justice and institutional reform.
They stressed, however, that the success of the initiative would ultimately be measured not by the number of journalists trained, but by whether it produces deeper investigations, stronger institutional accountability and greater public pressure to protect survivors and bring perpetrators to justice.
In a society where silence and stigma can shield perpetrators, stakeholders said, a specialised and responsible media has a critical role to play in ensuring that SGBV remains firmly on the national accountability agenda.
