Nigeria

The survey reports on the worst countries in the world for women in terms of health (e.g. maternal mortality, lack of access to health care facilities, lack of control over reproductive rights); discrimination (e.g. over land rights, job rights, property or inheritance); culture and religion (e.g. acid attacks, FGM, forced marriages); sexual violence (e.g. Rape, rape as a weapon of war, domestic rape or by a stranger); non-sexual violence (e.g. domestic violence); and human trafficking (including domestic servitude, forced labour, sexual slavery and forced marriage). The methodology is outlined and each listed country is fully described in each of the categories explored by the survey.

Narrates the background of the #AbujaPoliceraidOnWomen campaign, in response to the violent arrest of 70 women in two clubs on the accusation of prostitution. The police allegedly raped those women who couldn’t afford the bail.

See also the interview on this campaign with Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi, founder of the Stand To End Rape (STER) initiative  http://africanfeminism.com/police-brutality-against-nigerian-women-an-interview-with-oluwaseun-ayodeji-osowobi/ and http://africanfeminism.com/protests-arent-tea-parties-dont-expect-women-to-be-civil/

Describes the ‘Stand To End Rape Initiative’ and the #ArewaMeToo campaign in Nigeria (‘Arewa’ means ‘northern’) to combat the widespread sexual harassment of young women in the country. Provides background on the difficulty of achieving accountability, due to the very conservative culture.

Debates of the reasons why the Western #MeToo campaign didn’t spread as much in the African continent as it did in the US, UK, France, India and China. The article also briefly outlines the various campaigns that have evolved instead, such as #EndRapeCulture in South Africa; #MyDressismyChoice in Uganda and Kenya; #BeingfemaleinNigeria. Other protests includes #Nopiwouma (‘I will not shut up’) and #Doyna (‘That’s enough’) in Senegal

See also http://theconversation.com/metoo-isnt-big-in-africa-but-women-have-launched-their-own-versions-112328

Provides an overview of the reasons for the protests and the initial government response.     

See also: Akinwotu, Emmanuel, 'Nigeria Tried to Ban Bitcoin. How Did It Work Out?', Guardian Weekly, 13 August 2021, pp.25-6.

Akinwotu explains the rising use of bitcoin by the tech-savvy young, and notes how the government clamp down after October 2020 on bank accounts of those supporting the anti-SARS protests fueled this trend.

Chapter 7 covers the 1945 general strike.

Aung reports on the protests that erupted in Nigeria on 2 October 2020, after a video circulated showing a man killed by police. The protests broke out three years after the online campaign #EndSARS was launched, demanding an end to the squad's indiscriminate violence against young people. She notes the role of two Afro-Pop musicians and feminists in promoting protests, and the rapid extension of demands to encompass misuse of public funds, the unemployment crisis. poor economic infrastructure and bad government.

Multidisciplinary study by 13 Nigerian and 6 American political analysts of attempts at transition to democracy, including historical, social and economic as well as political factors.

The author interprets the work of Nigerian feminist scholar Oyèrónké Oyĕwùmí to be embedded in a relational understanding of subjectivity, as developed in African philosophy, that is deeply relational, fluid and non-dichotomous and therefore not reducible to the strict, essentialised, hierarchical and stable gender dyad of the colonial Western gender system.

This article looks at the claims on social media by Nigerian youth of police abuse, which is well documented in the three-year online EndSARS campaign. The authors examine the limitations of the campaign, which lasted three years with little success.  They explore the main themes of the campaign and consider4 how Nigeria's political environment can hinder successful movement activism.

The increasing impact of digitalization, especially in Africa, has transformed political, social, economic and business activity. There is therefore a need for rigorous academic debate about the effectiveness of social media platforms for citizen activism. This study focusses on the #EndSARS movement in Nigeria to explore strategies and mechanisms used to try to influence government. The authors conclude that the movement may inspire youth-led movements elsewhere, but also examine how the nature of the Nigerian state resulted in an abrupt end to the protests.

Covers women’s political rights across all major regions of the world, focusing both on women’s right to vote and women’s right to run for political office. The countries explored are Afghanistan, Armenia, Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Cameroon, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, New Zealand, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Rwanda, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, South Korea, Slovenia, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, the United States, Uganda, Uruguay, and Zimbabwe.

Nigerian novelist Helon Habila tells the stories of the girls who have been kidnapped by Boko Harama in the northern part of Nigeria and the impact on their families. Having a deep understanding of the historical context, the author also illuminates the long history of colonialism, and the influence of cultural and religious dynamics that gave rise to conflicts in this region.

Report on the origin of the #ChurchToo movement in Nigeria to shed light on and challenge sexual assaults perpetrate by the clergy. 

See also http://africanfeminism.com/churchtoo-confronting-the-last-bastion-of-patriarchy/

This blog highlights the activism of the Feminist Coalition, a group of young feminists who were  at the forefront of the youth  movement against police brutality. They helped initiate the public protests and provided food, security, mobile toilets and ambulances, as well as hospital services and bail arrangements for protesters.

Ojewale argues that the EndSARS protests, which incorporate demands for human rights and greater democracy, provide an outlet for marginalized young Nigerians to express their grievances against the government. The excesses of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad and the failure of the government to address them, despite promises of reform, are at the top of the list. This blog provides an in depth analysis of the movement and its causes, and discusses how the protests might affect the 2021 election.

See also: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2020/10/police-protest-power-and-nigerias-y...

Includes assessments of the increasingly active role of civil society and relations with the state.

After the explosion of the anti-SARS protests, this analysis argues that the way the Nigerian government responds to these emphatic demands for government accountability and an end to police violence will influence similar struggles across much of Africa, and impact especially on the young. 

See also: https://urbanviolence.org/why-nigerias-youth-are-protesting-for-police-reform/

Studies cover Peru, India (Orissa), Philippines, Nigeria (the Niger Basin), Chad and Cameroon, as well as Australia and Canada.

A shorter account by Wokoma also available in George-Williams, Bite Not One Another: Selected Accounts of Nonviolent Struggle in Africa (E. I. Africa - Sub-Saharan) .