Women’s rights activist and Executive Director of the DOHS Care Foundation, Ololade Ajayi, has criticized the government’s response to femicide, describing efforts to address the killing of women and girls as inadequate.
Speaking in an interview with The PUNCH, Ajayi said many victims had reported threats or abuse before they were killed but received insufficient protection from authorities. Citing the case of Lucy in Enugu State, she alleged that the victim reported a man believed to be her uncle to the police two days before she was killed.
“There was the case of Lucy in Enugu State… two days before he killed her, she had gone to the police station to report him,” Ajayi said, adding that the suspect later tracked her down and fatally attacked her at a pharmacy.
Ajayi argued that the victim’s life could have been saved through protective measures, including shelter and prosecution of the alleged abuser. She also said Nigeria’s estimated 52 sexual assault referral centres and shelters are inadequate for a population of more than 200 million.
She called for stronger legal protections, state support for children affected by intimate-partner homicides, and reforms to improve prosecutions and justice for femicide victims.
