By Ojo Sola
KADUNA, NIGERIA: *Aisha Bello, 16, was working as a househelp to a family in Rigachikun, when she began a romantic relationship with her colleague. The relationship turned sour two months in when she became pregnant.
The father of her unborn child pressured her to carry out an abortion but Aisha wouldn’t budge. While her family accepted her back, Aisha suffered emotional shaming until she gave birth in September 2024.
Before the birth of her child, a member of Aisha’s family suggested the child be taken to an orphanage. Aisha wasn’t opposed to the plan until a neighbor disclosed to her the real plan her family had hatched.
The neighbor overheard Aisha’s relatives plotting to sell off the baby immediately after birth under the guise of raising the child in an orphanage.”I would not have known what the child looked like if they had taken her away from me. It was one of our neighbours who hinted to me what was going on, informed CERSDOV and that’s how we got to this shelter,” Aisha said.
The Nigeria Demographic Health Survey for 2023 put the rate of teenage pregnancy at 15 percent. In Kaduna state, 29.9 percent of teenage girls between the ages of 15 to 19 have been pregnant.
With less than 10 active shelters and sexual assault centers in the state, sexual gender based violence services is limited especially to teenage girls. Recently, Kaduna state recorded a 30 percent surge in gender based violence.
In Case You Missed It
Redefining Masculinity: This Initiative Engages Men In The Fight Against SGBV
Boys Champion educates young boys on healthy masculinity, combatting cultural norms that lead to sexual and gender-based violence through various outreach initiatives, mentorship opportunities, and events held at local schools. Since 2018, the group has reached more than 10,000 young boys, teaching them ways to promote gender equality in their communities.
A Kaduna-based lawyer and anti-SGBV advocate, Bukola Ajao noted how this service gap together with changing social norms is fueling teenage pregnancies in the state.
“While some girls are victims of rape, a growing number are engaging in sexual activity without fully understanding the consequences. Many of these young girls, left unprotected and unsupported, fall through the cracks, ending up in abusive homes or forced to cohabit with the very individuals who impregnated them, often under the pretense of future marriage,” Ajoa told The SolutionsPaper.
She added that this cycle of vulnerability, abuse, and neglect repeats itself, sometimes leading to multiple unplanned pregnancies before the girls even turn 18.
How it works
Started in 2009, the Center for Study and Resolution of Sexual Violence or CERSDOV is located at Rigachikun, Igabi local government area of Kaduna State and operates as a private shelter supporting sexual violence survivors and other teenagers like Aisha.
Their approach includes providing a comprehensive range of services, such as free psychosocial support, medical attention and vocational training.
“My baby and I have been at the Centre for a year now. While at CERSDOV, I have learned a few skills [knitting and food processing] to make me self-reliant because my economic situation was partly responsible for my pregnancy” Aisha said.
Currently, she works as a cleaner in a school close to the shelter and is saving money from her salary to start a trade and leave the shelter.
The CERSDOV shelter has nine furnished rooms and partnerships with a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) and the Kaothar Legacy International school. When beneficiaries arrive at the CERSDOV shelter, they are first taken to the SARC center at the Yusuf Dantsoho Memorial Hospital, Tudun Wada and the Police Hospital in Jaji.
“At times, we take them to our private clinic, which is Garden City Hospital. We test them for malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis, pregnancy, and so on. We do these tests to know how to keep and manage them,” Hauwa’u Yusuf, CERSDOV founder said.
The Kaothar Legacy International school partners with CERSDOV and offers free education to children of SGBV survivors. *Veronica Bulus, a GBV survivor, was supported by CERSDOV in 2024 and is now a university student.
“I survived sexual violence which almost led me into depression a few years ago. CERSDOV intervened and took me into their care where I was treated and counselled. They also paid for my JAMB and secured admission for me in one of the universities around before I was reunited with my parents,” she said.
However, sociocultural norms including stigmatization are still prevalent and limit the impact of the shelter. According to Hauwa’u Yusuf, the complex legal system in Nigeria also complicates the process of getting justice for SGBV survivors.
“Apart from financial limitation, the mindset of people who do not understand the trauma SGBV survivors go through and the difficulty in getting justice for [SGBV survivors] are also limiting our progress in combating this social menace.”
Ajao also emphasized the need for more safe shelters and recovery facilities. “Where do these girls go? When they are violated, abused, and traumatized, where are the safe spaces for them to recover, to be protected, and to begin again?”
Credits
Names with * are pseudonyms and were changed to protect the identity of the source
Editing: Chinonso Kenneth
__________________________________________________
This story was published in partnership with Nigeria Health Watch through the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems. _________________________________________________
The SolutionsPaper is a a multimedia outlet leveraging solutions and constructive journalism to spur civic action and participation in development issues across Africa.
