The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), in partnership with the European Union (EU) and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), has launched a dedicated Media Corps to strengthen the capacity of journalists to investigate and report sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in Nigeria.
The initiative, unveiled in Abuja under the EU-supported End Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Programme, is aimed at moving media coverage of SGBV beyond episodic reporting to sustained and investigative journalism capable of exposing perpetrators, institutional failures and the social conditions that allow violence against women, girls and other vulnerable persons to persist.
The partnership reflects growing recognition that the fight against SGBV cannot be won through law enforcement and judicial action alone, but also requires an informed and responsible media capable of challenging the culture of silence surrounding abuse.
The newly established Media Corps is expected to equip journalists with specialised knowledge and practical tools to report SGBV cases accurately, ethically and sensitively, while protecting victims and survivors from further harm or re-victimisation.
At the launch, stakeholders highlighted the strategic role of the media in shaping public attitudes, holding institutions accountable and ensuring that cases of sexual violence do not disappear from public consciousness after the initial news cycle.
The initiative will also promote stronger collaboration among journalists, government agencies, civil society organisations and other stakeholders involved in the prevention of and response to SGBV.
For NAPTIP, the partnership comes at a critical time as Nigeria continues to grapple with the interconnected challenges of human trafficking, sexual exploitation, violence against women and girls and other forms of abuse.
Beyond reporting individual incidents, the Media Corps is expected to deepen public understanding of the structural dimensions of SGBV and draw attention to gaps in prevention, protection, prosecution and survivor support.
The EU, through its support for the programme, has continued to recognise strategic communication and public awareness as important components of efforts to combat gender-based violence and strengthen institutional responses.
Participants at the Abuja engagement stressed that journalists must be equipped not only with conventional reporting skills but also with an understanding of the legal, psychological and social dimensions of SGBV.
They noted that such knowledge would enable journalists to report cases without sensationalism, protect the identities and dignity of survivors where necessary, challenge harmful stereotypes and avoid coverage that could inadvertently reinforce the culture that enables abuse.
The initiative is therefore being positioned as more than a conventional capacity-building programme. It seeks to build a specialised community of journalists capable of making SGBV a sustained national accountability issue.
Stakeholders said effective journalism can help expose patterns of abuse, amplify the voices of survivors, interrogate institutional responses and increase pressure on relevant authorities to take action.
They also called for stronger cooperation between the media and agencies responsible for addressing sexual violence, stressing the need for journalists to have access to credible information while respecting due process, privacy and the rights of survivors.
The launch comes against the backdrop of persistent concerns over the under-reporting of sexual and gender-based violence, fear of stigmatisation, victim-blaming, limited access to justice and the reluctance of many survivors to speak publicly about their experiences.
These challenges, stakeholders observed, make responsible journalism particularly important in ensuring that survivors are heard without being subjected to further trauma.
With the establishment of the Media Corps, NAPTIP, the EU and International IDEA are seeking to build a more informed and specialised media response that can transform public discourse around SGBV from one driven largely by isolated incidents into a sustained national conversation on prevention, accountability and justice.
The ultimate measure of the initiative, however, will not be the number of journalists trained, but whether it leads to deeper investigations, stronger accountability journalism and greater public pressure on institutions to protect victims and prosecute perpetrators.
For a country confronting persistent cases of sexual and gender-based violence, stakeholders said, silence remains one of the strongest allies of perpetrators.
The new Media Corps is therefore expected to help ensure that silence no longer has the final word.
