Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi

We Need To Start Teaching Consent, Gender Equality In Schools, Worship Places

Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi is a gender equality advocate as well as Sexual and Gender- based Violence Prevention and Response expert. At the 2020 Commonwealth Day Service with the Queen of England, she was appointed Commonwealth Official Flag- bearer to lead the Procession of Her Majesty. In recognition of her incredible work on advancing gender equality, Osowobi was named the Commonwealth Young Person for 2019 and recognised as one of TIME’S 100 NEXT Honourees. To institutionalise this support mechanism and structure, she works with Civil Society Organisations ( CSOS) to enjoin the Nigerian government to pass laws that protect the rights of women such as the Violence against Persons Prohibition Bill ( VAPP), Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill and the Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Institutions Prohibition Bill. To push for the passage of the Sexual Harassment Bill, she partnered with the BBC to carry out the # Sexforgrades documentary. In her official capacity as the Executive Director of Stand to End Rape initiative ( STER), she leads the advocacy for gender equality and pushing for an end to Sexual and Gender- based Violence ( SGBV) while providing psychological support for survivors in Nigeria. Over the last five years, she has led projects centred on eliminating the prevalence of SGBV, economic empowerment for survivors and teaching boys and men their role in ending SGBV and promoting gender equality. She has served as a resource person to United Nations Population Fund and United Nations Children’s Fund Nigeria.

In this interview with TOBI AWODIPE, she spoke on her efforts to end SGBV in Nigeria, how the country can end sexual harassment and violence against women, the need for schools and religious centres to integrate consent and gender equality into the curriculum and her interest in politics.

The media has been awash with several heartbreaking stories of the rape and murder of several women and girls recently; as an advocate in this space, how does this make you feel?

I’m appalled by the number of cases of rape and/ or murder in recent times. I’m extremely concerned that almost everyday, Nigerian women and girls are raped and blatantly killed by men. While it is great that these cases made it online, this reflects a fraction of daily happenings in communities and cases that go unreported and silenced. As an advocate, this issue once again provides an opportunity to intensify advocacy, increase awareness for social and behavioural change and call for a state of emergency on SGBV in Nigeria. By doing this, we can review existing laws and service provisions, demand for structures and systems to protect women and girls such as the Sexual Assault Referral Centres ( SARCS). For example, only 12 states have adopted VAPP, while several northern states are yet to adopt the Child Rights Act ( CRA). These laws are important instruments to serve as deterrent to prospective abusers and create adequate support for victims and survivors.

What does STER do and how is it impacting change?

Stand to End Rape Initiative ( STER) is a leading youth- led organisation that is advancing gender equality and end to SGBV by pushing for policy advocacy, facilitating prevention of sexual violence through awareness- raising and providing holistic psychosocial support to survivors of SGBV. We work with communities to develop homegrown solutions by working with families of survivors to provide survivor- centred interventions. STER, over the years, has been doing the following:

- Advocacy: Pushing for policies that protect and defend the rights and wellbeing of Nigerian women and girls. We work with other CSOS to engage stakeholders and lobby legislators to push the agenda of women and girls forward; - Awareness: Creative campaigns aimed at changing knowledge, attitudes and practices that contribute to SGBV and highlight its impact on its victims and survivors, and share this across different communication channels;

- Prevention: To influence knowledge and behaviours around SGBV, STER conceptualises and implements strategic programmes with the aim to prevent the incidence and prevalence of sexual violence while promoting gender equality. One of such programmes is the Consent Education Programme where we engage men and boys within formal and informal settings on consent and gender equality to curb attitudes and practices perpetrated by men around SGBV;

- Support: STER provides survivor- centred interventions to victims and survivors, which include facilitating emergency medical support, litigation support, mental health therapy and other specific support required. We support the Nigerian Police with prosecution process. Through these initiatives, STER is setting a course for SGBV prevention while ensuring that those who have experienced one form of SGBV or another can receive adequate support. We believe in Access, Justice and Change.

What made you go into gender advocacy?

My interest in gender advocacy stemmed from personal experiences around me as well as the injustice I daily see women and girls being subjected to. Issues of sexual violence, domestic violence, Female Genital Mutilation ( FGM), widowhood rites, segregation based on gender, among other issues, came across to me as some of the greatest injustices anyone could experience. I knew it was not enough just being angry about it, but I also had a responsibility to contribute towards shifting the norm.

How best can we end sexual harassment and violence against women?

It is by implementing policies around this issue, reforming the police and other law enforcement agencies and facilitating adequate support services for women and girls. To achieve a world completely free of sexual violence, there must be a social re- engineering of sexual norms and acceptable behaviours, intensifying human- designed awareness- raising to cause behavioural change, stripping gatekeepers of their privileges and powers, destruction of the culture of silence and impunity, establishment of adequate response systems to issues of GBV, holding our criminal justice system accountable and implementation/ overhaul of policies limiting women and girls.

Several advocacy groups have accused the police of being a cog in the wheel of progress, do you share this sentiment?

As referenced above, we work with the police to facilitate prosecution of these cases and I share in the sentiments of several advocacy groups who have called them to account for being a major roadblock in securing justice for women and girls. From seeking “mobilisation funds” to arrest perpetrators, investigate cases of SGBV and facilitate prosecution, the police have extensively forced women into silence. In 2019, same police unlawfully raided, arrested and raped women in Abuja using sachet water, which is the most despicable injustice to be perpetrated by a body that ought to protect and defend the rights of women. Recently, the police killed 16- year- old Tina Ezekwe, among other crimes that cannot be listed here. Nonetheless, there are some notable officers who put the trust Nigerians place in them