A non-governmental organisation, Women at Risk International Foundation, has decried the increase in the rate of sexual and domestic abuse during the coronavirus pandemic.

WARIF said this was so because more and more survivors had been forced to stay in COVID-19 lockdown with their abusers.

The organisation said the prevalence of violence against girls and women in Nigeria was the reason it launched the ‘No Tolerance Campaign,’ the maiden edition of which held in 2019. The campaign was to commemorate the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence organised by the United Nations.

WARIF said the march brought together over 700 youths from across the states. In addition, over 10 million people were said to have been reached on social media with the campaign.

Following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, WARIF said the second edition of its campaign against sexual violence against women would hold online on Saturday, December 5, 2020 (today).

Tagged #WARIFNoTolerance, the organisation enjoined participants, including friends, survivors, and WARIF supporters, to wear their ‘No Tolerance’ T-shirts and march, jog, walk or run anywhere of their choice, whether at home, on the bridge, or on the streets between 7 am and 7 pm.

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It asked participants to share and post their pictures and videos on social media platforms with the hashtag #WARIFNoTolerance and by tagging @WARIF_NG.

In a statement, WARIF founder, Dr Kemi DaSilva-Ibru, said, “With the COVID-19 outbreak, a shadow pandemic has become apparent with a spike in the rate of sexual and domestic violence cases as more and more survivors are forced to quarantine with their abusers. This has put a spotlight on the prevalence of gender-based violence across the world, including Nigeria, and the urgent need for free essential services, provided by organisations like WARIF, to be made available to all survivors.”

DaSilva-Ibru added that it was imperative to continue to raise awareness on the prevalence of sexual violence, calling on Nigerians to join this year’s march.

“Let’s take a stand and say ‘no tolerance’ to this national crisis,” she said.

According to the statement, some celebrities who have pledged to participate in the march include Dakore Egbuson-Akande, Ego Boyo, Chioma Akpotha, Temi Otedola, Lanre DaSilva-Ajayi, and Richard Mofe-Damijo.