I haven’t looked back in terms of using not only my legal skills but my knowledge as a civil society actor in order to ensure that people use these i… - Osai Ojigho

I will say that access to justice in Nigeria is still crawling, especially for women victims of violence. There are a lot of cultural taboos around women’s bodily integrity which is already a barrier to accessing the services they need.

The representatives have security operatives allocated to them; they would consider the risk of targeting such a high profile person compared to the villagers who they can easily overwhelm. So, it is really about letting the leadership know that it is not about personal interest, but public interest. And when the people are crying, you have a responsibility to address it. We have had situations when officials heard about a crisis and simply hired more security officials instead of tackling the issue so you don’t need to spend more money on your personal security. It is that awareness about public security that we really need to get the lawmakers, governors, and President to pay attention to.

Education is under attack in northern Nigeria. Schools should be places of safety, and no child should have to choose between their education and their life. Other children have had to abandon their education after being displaced by frequent violent attacks on their communities, and many teachers have been forced to flee to other states. The Nigerian authorities must act immediately to prevent attacks on schools, to protect children’s lives and their right to education.