As Nigeria grapples with protracted conflicts, violent extremism, and a looming climate-conflict nexus, women and girls disproportionately bear the brunt of instability.
As contained in a Statement signed by the National Director, SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria, Eghosa Erhumwunse, currently, the nation is home to over 3.4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), a figure primarily driven by the ongoing insurgency in the North-East and rampant banditry in the North-West. Alarmingly, women and children make up nearly 80 percent of this vulnerable demographic.
In these turbulent environments, women encounter systemic exposure to Gender-Based Violence (GBV), encompassing abduction, trafficking, and forced marriages used as tactics of war.
Humanitarian assessments reveal distressing statistics, with at least one in three women in conflict-affected zones experiencing physical or sexual violence. This crisis is exacerbated by inadequate gender-segregated sanitation facilities and unsafe access to water points.
Furthermore, the breakdown of local justice mechanisms and loss of legal documentation places displaced women in a precarious ‘protection gap,’ where fragile systems translate into systemic violations of their fundamental rights.
As the world approaches International Women’s Day 2026, themed ‘Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls,’ the stark reality for those in Nigeria’s most volatile regions is evident: protection standards remain alarmingly low. The journey toward gender equality must transition from symbolic gestures to structural reforms.
Rights without enforcement are mere promises on paper, justice without accessibility—especially for displaced and rural populations—constitutes exclusion, and actions without accountability leave the most vulnerable to navigate fragile systems alone. Achieving true equality necessitates substantial investment in and enforcement of protective frameworks.
For women and girls residing in humanitarian, conflict-affected, and disaster-prone communities in Nigeria, these challenges are not just theoretical; they are lived experiences. Emergencies exacerbate existing inequalities. Displacement disrupts livelihoods, fragments social safety nets, and leads to heightened exposure to violence.
Floods and climate shocks devastate homes, farmland, and informal businesses—spheres where women often thrive. In such contexts, protection systems strain under pressure, legal pathways become increasingly inaccessible, and women’s input in recovery planning is often limited to token consultations.
Despite these daunting challenges, women remain at the forefront of crisis response. In times of conflict or disaster, it is women who spearhead survival efforts, forming food networks and sustaining informal livelihoods. They provide child care, offer psychosocial support, and stabilize households even before formal systems can respond. Their resilience is not just admirable; it serves as the backbone of community recovery.
Highlighting the plight and resilience of women in Nigeria’s conflict zones during International Women’s Day is crucial. Ending the cycle of violence and ensuring protection for all women and girls is a collective responsibility that demands action and accountability from governments and humanitarian organizations alike.
Yet women consistently stand at the frontlines of crisis response. When conflict or disaster disrupts communities, it is women who reorganize survival; they form food networks, sustaining informal livelihoods, caring for children, providing psychosocial support, and stabilizing households. Long before formal systems respond, women are already rebuilding social cohesion and holding families together. Their resilience is the backbone of recovery.
But resilience must not be romanticized or used to excuse systemic failure. Praising women’s strength while leaving protection gaps unaddressed risks normalizing injustice. Strength should not replace safety, and survival should not substitute for rights. True recovery is built not on how much women can endure, but on how effectively systems protect, include, and uphold their rights.
The 2026 theme of IWD26 challenges the global community to move beyond incremental change. In Nigeria, it demands urgent and deliberate reforms. It calls for the removal of discriminatory legal and customary barriers that undermine women’s inheritance, land ownership, and economic participation. It demands strengthened enforcement of existing protection laws, particularly in conflict-affected states where impunity remains pervasive.
It requires survivor-centred justice systems that prioritize confidentiality, dignity, and accessibility. It insists on safe and inclusive humanitarian services that integrate protection, WASH, health, and psychosocial support. It compels equal representation of women in decision-making at every level of emergency response and recovery — from camp management committees to national reconstruction frameworks.
Justice must extend beyond the courtroom. It must be reflected in national policies and strategies, reinforced through legislation, and championed by civil society and international partners. Protection for women in emergencies must be visible in secure water points, gender-sensitive sanitation facilities, confidential GBV reporting desks, accessible legal aid services, inclusive recovery committees, and budget allocations that prioritize women’s safety and leadership. It must be evident in data systems that capture women’s realities and in policies that translate into tangible community-level impact.
At SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria, we call on government, humanitarian partners, civil society, and community leaders to accelerate reforms that guarantee rights, strengthen justice systems, and institutionalized women’s leadership in emergency and recovery frameworks. The future stability of our communities depends on it.
International Women’s Day 2026 is a national checkpoint — a moment to ask whether Nigeria is accelerating reform or normalizing inequality; a moment to determine whether women in displacement camps, flood-affected communities, and conflict zones will continue to navigate systems not built for their protection. Action must be intentional and measurable, backed by sustained investment in women-led organizations operating in fragile settings.
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