With three in five Nigerians experiencing gender-based violence (GBV) or knowing someone who has, the 2025 Womanity Index report has revealed that government funding for GBV prevention and response remains critically low.
Released annually by Invictus Africa during the global 16 Days of Activism, the report shows that the home remains the primary site of violence in Nigeria, with 76 percent of GBV incidents occurring in domestic settings.
The Womanity Index evaluates state governments across five key areas: laws and policies, access to legal justice, support services, information and awareness, and budgeting and spending. This year’s theme, “What Has Changed?”, highlights a troubling reality, although more states are creating GBV budget lines, inadequate funding and poor budget performance continue to endanger survivors and weaken essential support systems.
Executive Director of Invictus Africa, Bukky Shonibare, lamented the decline in awareness efforts and shrinking state spending.
She noted that the average allocation to the Ministry of Women Affairs is a mere 0.6 percent, with some states allocating as low as 0.1 percent. Only Borno State allocated up to 2.3 percent. “The problem is not allocation, it is the release and spending of these funds,” she said.
According to the report, states collectively allocated ₦120.22 billion to GBV prevention and response in 2024, representing only 0.66 percent of their combined budgets. Actual spending, however, was just 37.9 percent, a sharp decline from 2023. This translates to Nigeria spending an average of just ₦365.60 per woman or girl on GBV response.
Shonibare warned that if the decline in spending continues, every component of the GBV response system will be further weakened. “States create budget lines but release little or nothing. Without funding, laws remain unimplemented, justice inaccessible, shelters non-existent, and awareness weak. My call to the government is simple: budget more and spend more. Survivors cannot continue to pay the price for government inaction.”
Shonibare reiterated that sustainable GBV prevention and response must be led and funded by the government. “When states fail to fund, survivors pay the price. Donor or NGO-funded interventions cannot substitute for state responsibility,” she noted.
Ford Foundation’s Regional Director for West Africa, Dr. ChiChi Aniagolu-Okoye, stressed that the Index offers a critical blueprint for governments and a reminder that donor contributions cannot replace state responsibility. “Donor funding is dwindling and will continue to shrink. Many facilities are already built; what states need is the will to maintain them. Addressing GBV does not require breaking the bank. It requires prioritisation,” she said.
Co-founder of the Amandla Institute and former First Lady of Ekiti State, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, commended leading states but cautioned that the country still has a long journey ahead. “States such as Lagos, Akwa Ibom, and others are showing what is possible when leadership is intentional. But overall, Nigeria still has a long way to go.”